Expeditions EP-19 and ISS-60 are completing work at the International Space Station.

The crew of the “Soyuz MS-12” spacecraft (cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, astronaut Nick Hague and space flight participant from the UAE Hazza Al Mansouri) are preparing to return to Earth.

Today, on October 2, 2019, the commander of the 60th expedition, cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, who has led it since June 2019, and the commander of the 61st expedition, astronaut Luca Parmitano, signed an act of delegation of authority.

The process of transferring a “shift” at the station is a formal ceremony of signing the relevant documents by two commanders.

At the same time, the expedition number changes – in this case, from 60 to 61.

The crew celebrating the change of “power” in a specific way – it rings the bell, located on the American segment.

The astronaut of the European Space Agency will lead the multinational team of the 61st expedition until his return to Earth, which is scheduled for February 2020. On his current mission Luca Parmitano set off on July 20, 2019 on a spacecraft “Soyuz MS-13”.

Currently, in accordance with the flight plan, Alexey Ovchinin, Nick Hague and Hazza Al Mansouri are engaged in preparations for landing.

In the descent vehicle the crew will bring with them the equipment and cases to be returned with the results of scientific experiments.

Closing of the access hatches between the “Soyuz MS-12” spacecraft and the ISS is planned at 07:20 (Moscow time) on October 3, undocking at 10:37 (Moscow time) and landing of the descent vehicle at 14:00 (Moscow time) 147 km south-east of Zhezkazgan (Kazakhstan ) All operations will be broadcast live in the “Online Broadcasts” section of the Roscosmos State Corporation website www.roscosmos.ru

The length of stay in space flight of two crew members – Alexey Ovchinin and Nick Hague will be 203 days (the launch into orbit of the ship took place on March 14, 2019).

Hazza Al Mansouri, a member of the EP-19 visiting expedition, arrived at the International Space Station on the “Soyuz MS-15” spacecraft, which was launched on September 25, 2019.

The duration of his stay in flight will be 8 days.