Today, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi passed command of the International Space Station to fellow Expedition 73 crewmate cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov. This will be Ryzhikov’s second time as ISS commander having previously served as commander during Expedition 64 (October 20th, 2020 – April 15th, 2021).
Before handing over ISS command to Ryzhikov, Takuya Onishi served as ISS commander since April 18th, taking over command from cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin. Onishi’s command marked only the third time a Japanese astronaut has served as commander of the International Space Station. During his time as commander Onishi oversaw the overall safety of the Axiom-4 mission which spent 18 days on the ISS, and a single spacewalk.
During the change of command ceremony Onishi gave appreciation to his fellow Expedition 73 crewmates and provided his trust that NASA astronaut Jonny Kim would lead the USOS segment responsibly.
After gaining the “key” to the International Space Station, Ryzhikov noted that Expedition 73 started on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz mission and will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station. He also concluded that despite differences on earth everyone in space and on the ISS regardless of nationality can work cooperatively.
Under his first stint as ISS commander, Ryzhikov oversaw the first operational commercial crew program flight (Crew-1) and 5 EVAs.
Serving as ISS commander for the second time, Ryzhikov will be tasked with overseeing ISS operations including his own crew of Soyuz MS-27 and SpaceX Crew-11 until his own departure in December in which he will transfer command to NASA astronaut Mike Fincke for Expedition 74.