posted 04-26-2012 07:55 AM               

The reins of the International Space Station (ISS) were passed from Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank to Oleg Kononenko in a ceremony on the complex on April 25, 2012.

Kononenko and flight engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers arrived at the station on Dec. 23, 2011, and will remain in orbit until July. They will be joined on May 17 by Expedition 31 crew members Joe Acaba, Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin.

Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin will return to Earth in their Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft on April 27.