Expedition 65 Change of Command Ceremony and Crew- Farewell - April 27, 2021

JAPANESE ASTRONAUT TAKES COMMAND OF SPACE STATION AS CREW-1 PREPARES TO DEPART 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.