Two astronauts swapped seats between the shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station (ISS) for good today, though Mission Control sent them a gentle reminder to be sure they got it right.

“Just a friendly reminder – be sure to call roll call on both sides of the hatch before closing it!” said Mission Control here at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in a message sent with the shuttle crew’s morning mail.

When the hatches between Atlantis and the ISS shut at 1:03 p.m. (1803 GMT) today to prepare for Monday’s undocking, U.S. astronaut Dan Tani, formerly an station crewmember, stay aboard the shuttle while his replacement – European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts of France – joined the station’s Expedition 16 crew.

“It is a great day for me,” Tani said during an emotional farewell, in which he recalled the loss of his mother Rose during his spaceflight and his eagerness to see his wife Jane and two daughters. “Jane is the love of my life and she had the hard work while I was having fun. So I can’t wait to get back to Earth and my two little girls.”

STS-122 and Expedition 16 crews say farewell on Feb. 17, 2008. Credit: NASA TV.

And if that weren’t enough, Mission Control quantified the two spaceflyers in the Atlantis crew’s cargo manifest in today’s Flight Day 11 execute package – which is basically the day’s activity list for astronauts in space.

Eyharts is Transfer Item 809, while Tani is Transfer Item 810.

Mission Control reminded the astronauts to check with the station’s Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson before making the crew change.

“If Peggy can spare this return, we’d like to swap items 809 and 810,” they wrote in the morning mail.

Tani is currently in his 118th day in space and will have about 121 orbital days by the time Atlantis lands on Wednesday. Delays to Atlantis’ planned December launch extended his mission by two extra months.

The shuttle is set to land on Feb. 20 in Florida at 9:06 a.m. EST (1406 GMT) after a 13-day mission to deliver the ESA’s Columbus lab module to the ISS. It will undock from the space station on Monday at 4:26 a.m. EST (0926 GMT).