posted 04-09-2021 06:21 PM            

Right now on board the space station, it's Sergey Ryzhikov. He's actually going to hand off command to Shannon Walker, one of the Crew-1 astronauts just about a week from now just before he comes home along with Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Kate Rubins.

She will be commander for a couple of days until the Crew-2 mission launches to the space station. At which point, she will be handing off to Aki Hoshide from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and then he will be the commander for several months during Expedition 65.

And then towards the end of that flight, he'll hand off to Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency, who will be the commander for a couple of weeks at the very end of their mission.

posted 04-14-2021 07:31 PM               

Shannon Walker to Become First Native Houstonian to Command International Space Station

A native Houstonian is set to take command of the International Space Station for the first time in its 20-plus-year history.

Shannon Walker, a veteran astronaut who was born, raised, and earned all three of her science degrees in Houston, will accept command of the space station on Thursday, April 15, in a ceremony beginning at 2:45 p.m. CDT.

"Having the Johnson Space Center here in my backyard growing up, I was always aware of what NASA was doing in the space program," Walker said. "I'm so proud to represent my hometown on the International Space Station where we conduct scientific research that can benefit all of humankind."

With operations led from the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, which is also home to the astronaut corps, the space station has continuously hosted international teams of astronauts since 2000.

"We like to call Johnson Space Center the home of the astronauts, and all of them live here while they're training and supporting human spaceflight," said Johnson Director Mark Geyer. "But in Shannon's case, she's a homegrown Houstonian, and we couldn't be prouder for our community to have her representing Space City as commander of the space station."

Walker is a member of NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission that flew to the space station on the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft, the first commercial human spacecraft system. She and her fellow Crew-1 astronauts joined Expedition 64 upon their arrival and are nearing completion of a six-month science mission that included science and research investigations. Walker and the Expedition 64 crew worked on a number of experiments, including tissue chips that mimic the structure and function of human organs to understand the role of microgravity on human health and diseases and translate those findings to improve human health on Earth. Astronauts also grew radishes in different types of light and soils as part of ongoing efforts to produce food in space, and tested a new system to remove heat from spacesuits.

Walker attended Westbury High School (formerly Westbury Senior High), Meyerland Visual and Performing Arts Middle School (formerly Johnston Junior High and later Johnston Middle School), and Parker Elementary, all in Houston Independent School District. Walker said that she had engaging teachers whose high expectations fueled her space ambitions. She graduated with a bachelor of arts in physics from Rice University in 1987 and later returned to complete her master of science in 1992 and a PhD in space physics in 1993.

She joined NASA in 1987 as a Robotics Flight Controller for the Space Shuttle Program. She began work on the International Space Station Program in 1995, and was selected to become an astronaut in 2004. Walker completed her first spaceflight in 2010 for Expeditions 24 and 25 to the International Space Station.

Command will officially transfer to her when the off-going commander, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, departs the station. Ryzhikov and fellow cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, along with NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, will begin the journey back to Earth in their Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft on April 16.

Walker is scheduled to join Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Soichi Noguchi aboard Resilience on Wednesday, April 28, and depart the station for return to Earth.

posted 04-15-2021 10:56 AM            

Walker to Command Station Until Departure at End of April

NASA astronaut Shannon Walker of Houston will assume command of the International Space Station today from Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov. Walker will lead the Expedition 65 crew for almost two weeks until she returns to Earth with her crewmates aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Ryzhikov will depart the orbiting lab on Friday with his Expedition 64 crewmates Kate Rubins of NASA and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos. The trio will undock from the Poisk module inside the Soyuz MS-17 crew ship at 9:34 p.m. (0034 GMT) and parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan about three-and-a-half hours later.

The seven-member Expedition 65 crew will be waiting for the arrival of four new Commercial Crew members due to launch to the station on April 22 at 6:11 a.m. (1011:45 GMT) SpaceX Crew-2 Commander Shane Kimbrough and Pilot Megan McArthur will be guiding the SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle toward the station with Mission Specialists Akihiko Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet. The new quartet will dock to the Harmony module’s forward-facing international docking adapter a little less than 24 hours later.

Eleven people will occupy the orbiting lab until April 28 when the four members of SpaceX Crew-1 end their 162-day space research mission. Michael Hopkins will be in charge of the Crew Dragon as Victor Glover pilots the vehicle, with Walker and Soichi Noguchi inside, when it undocks from Harmony’s space-facing port at 7:04 a.m. (1104 GMT) They will parachute to a splashdown off the coast of Florida about five-and-a-half hours later.

The day before the Crew-1 departure Walker will hand over station command to Hoshide who will lead the Expedition 65 crew. Hoshide will be the second astronaut overall from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to lead a station crew since Koichi Wakata commanded Expedition 39 in 2014.

posted 04-15-2021 05:15 PM               

Command of the International Space Station was passed from Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos to NASA astronaut Shannon Walker during a ceremony on the orbital outpost on April 15, 2021.

posted 04-16-2021 04:09 AM            

"Change" on the International Space Station.

posted 04-24-2021 05:35 PM            

Crew-1 astronaut and station commander Shannon Walker of NASA will hand over command of the station to JAXA astronaut and Crew-2 member Akihiko Hoshide during a change of command and farewell event on Tuesday, April 27 at 1:25 p.m. EDT.

posted 04-27-2021 02:05 PM               

Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Shannon Walker handed command of the complex to astronaut Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) April 27 as Walker and her Crew-1 crewmates prepared to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon "Resilience."

Hoshide became the second Japanese commander of the station and will remain in charge until the fall when he hands off command to Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency).

Following the change of command ceremony, Walker and fellow Crew-1 astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of JAXA offered final thoughts on their mission on the outpost as they geared up to return to Earth April 28 to complete a 164-day mission.

posted 10-05-2021 10:15 AM               

Here is the video of the change of command ceremony: