At 2:25PM EDT today command of the the International Space Station changes hands as Expedition 37 takes control. Let’s take a look at the roster changes.
Outgoing commander Pavel Vinogradov will symbolically turn things over to current Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin in a traditional Change of Command Ceremony today, but Yurchikhin takes official control tomorrow when Expedition 36 undocks and heads back to Earth.
Vinogradov will return to Earth tomorrow along with Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy and Alexander Misurkin when their Soyuz undocks from the ISS at 7:35PM.
Staying on for Expedition 37 with Yurchikhin will be Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg who recently attended her high school reunion from space, and Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano who recently almost drowned inside his space suit. Later this month Engineers Oleg Kotov, Mike Hopkins, and Sergey Ryazanskiy will join the party when their Soyuz TMA-10M craft reaches the ISS on September 25th.
Also later this month we’ll see the Orbital Sciences Cygnus craft launch cargo to the ISS. Astronauts Nyberg and Parmitano are currently training to handle its arrival.
(via NASA, image via supermonkee)
- NASA’s Instagram account is a thing of beauty
- The Hubble photographed some space sperm, but NASA won’t call it that
- The Curiosity Rover has its learner’s permit, testing out an autonav system
