In October 2007, the arrival of Commander Peggy Whitson and the Expedition 16 crew marked another transition for Clayton Anderson. After serving with Expedition 15 since his June arrival, Anderson officially became a member of Expedition 16 when his Russian Expedition 15 crewmates returned to Earth on their Soyuz capsule.

He spent approximately three weeks with the new Expedition 16 crew, helping provide continuity as station operations transitioned between crews.

Anderson’s long-duration mission would come to an end with the arrival of STS-120 on Space Shuttle Discovery.  Their crew brought astronaut Daniel Tani who would be Anderson’s replacement. Anderson departed the International Space Station aboard Discovery with the STS-120 crew and returned to Earth on November 7, 2007.  Discovery’s arrival at the Kennedy Space Center ended Anderson’s first trip to space after accumulating approximately 152 days in space.