ISS Expedition 36 Crew to Return to Earth

In preparation for the Expedition 36 return to Earth, Commander Pavel Vinogradov of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) handed over control of the International Space Station Monday, Sept. 9, 2013 at 2:25 p.m. EDT in a traditional Change of Command Ceremony. 

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin will take over command and officially lead Expedition 37 when Expedition 36 undocks Tuesday at 7:35 p.m.

Going home with Vinogradov are Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy of NASA and Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, who arrived at the station March 28. 

They will land a few hours later in their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft at 10:58 p.m. (8:58 a.m. Wednesday Kazakhstan time).

Soyuz landing coverage begins Tuesday on NASA TV at 4 p.m. with farewell and hatch closure.

In the bottom half of this photo, left to right, are Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Karen Nyberg of NASA and Misurkin.

In the top half of the photo are, left to right, Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, Cassidy, and Yurchikhin. This photo was taken on June 8, 2013.

Image Credit: NASA