ISS Expedition 17/18 Change of Command Ceremony

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Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, along with flight engineers Yury Lonchakov and Greg Chamitoff, officially took charge of the International Space Station on Wednesday, October 22. The Change of Command Ceremony took place just before 2 p.m. EDT with Expedition 17 handing over the controls and wrapping up its stay at the station.

Wednesday was the last full day in space for Expedition 17 crew members Sergei Volkov, commander, and flight engineer Oleg Kononenko. They spent the day packing items and making final preparations in their Soyuz TMA-12 for the ride home.

Spaceflight participant Richard Garriott is also returning to Earth after hitching a ride to the station with Expedition 18. Garriott, Volkov and Kononenko are scheduled to land in the steppes of Kazakhstan around 11:36 p.m. EDT on Thursday, October 23.

Chamitoff is staying aboard the orbiting laboratory until space shuttle Endeavour brings his replacement, Sandra Magnus, on the STS-126 mission in November.

Video recorded from NASA TV.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• space
• station
• ISS
• change
• of
• command
• Fincke
• Volkov
• Garriott

[artepostmoderno]

great

[Shadowsnshades]

Thanks for posting.