NASA astronaut Jessica Meir will hand over command of the International Space Station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov on October 4. NASA announced that the change of command ceremony will take place before the Crew-12 crew completes its mission in orbit.
The transfer of command is related to the crew change. Crew-13 arrived at the ISS on October 1, after which 11 people were simultaneously on the station. The new crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Katrick, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
The Crew-12 crew, which includes Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot, and Andrey Fedyaev, has been working on the International Space Station since February. NASA plans to return them to Earth on the Crew Dragon spacecraft no earlier than October 5, if weather conditions in the landing area off the coast of California are favorable.
The command transfer itself is considered a routine ISS management procedure. The ISS commander is responsible for coordinating the crew's work and interaction between international team members, as well as for the station's actions in emergency situations. After Crew-12 departs, Dubrov will continue to work in orbit with the new crew, who will maintain the station's operations and carry out the planned scientific program.
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