Onboard the International Space Station, the 62nd long expedition is completing.

The crew members of the “Soyuz MS-15” manned spacecraft – Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skrypochka, NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir – are preparing to return to Earth in accordance with the flight schedule.

So, this night at the station the “change of crews” was completed.

The commander of the 62nd long expedition, cosmonaut Oleg Skrypochka, who has been leading it since February this year, and the commander of the 63rd expedition, astronaut Christopher Cassidy, signed an act of transfer of authority.

Oleg Skrypochka also wished the cosmonauts and astronauts a successful flight and handed the symbolic key to the station to Christopher Cassidy.

At the end of the ceremony, astronaut Andrew Morgan, according to the old naval tradition, gave a symbolic bell ringing, signaling the end of one expedition and the beginning of another.

Currently, Oleg Skrypochka, Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir are engaged in operations to prepare for landing.

In the descent vehicle of the “Soyuz MS-15” spacecraft, they will bring the equipment and cases to be returned with the results of scientific experiments, conducted on board the International Space Station.

According to the Mission Control Center, the closure of passage hatches between the “Zvezda” module and the “Soyuz MS-15” manned spacecraft was tentatively scheduled at 01:30 (Moscow time) on April 17, 2020, with undocking at 04:53 (Moscow time) and landing of the descent vehicle – at 08:16 (Moscow time) the same day.

All operations will be broadcast live on the website of the Roscosmos State Corporation and the social networks of Roscosmos.

After undocking the ship in Earth orbit, the crew of the long-term expedition ISS-63, consisting of cosmonauts Roscosmos Anatoly Ivanishin, Ivan Wagner and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy, will continue to work.