NASA astronaut Mike Fincke ended his tenure as commander of the International Space Station on Monday, Jan. 12, after more than a month in the post.
His time in the role is ending a month earlier than anticipated after NASA decided to medically evacuate four members of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission due to a “serious medical condition” after the “serious medical condition” of one of the four became apparent on January 7. NASA leadership determined that proper diagnosis and treatment could not occur on the ISS and decided to bring the crew home early.
During a change of command ceremony broadcast from the ISS, Fincke, 58, handed the symbolic keys to the space station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, 42. He called the early departure “bittersweet”.
“I just want to say thank you for the first part of Expedition 74, but also the last part of Expedition 73. It’s really amazing,” Finke said. “My friend Scott Kelly says space flight is the greatest team sport and it’s true. We had a great time.
“Everyone really rose to the occasion for our campaigns and it’s really a pleasure to be here.”
Fincke personally thanked his crewmates and concluded his remarks by calling NASA astronaut and fellow Crew-11 member Zena Cardman, 38, “a rock star, superstar, amazing star.”
Finke said, “It’s been such a joy serving with you, seeing you see Earth for the first time, riding over the rocks and now it’s coming to an end where we get to go home. It’s bitter-sweet.”
Crew-11 is scheduled to undock from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Wednesday, January 14 at 5:05 p.m. EST (2205 UTC) and touch down off the coast of California around 3:40 a.m. EST on Thursday, January 15.
Crew-11 will depart from the space station with only three people on board for the first time since the standard three-person missions to the ISS ceased in May 2009.
NASA astronaut Chris Williams, 42, a Harvard-educated physician, will be the only American on the space station until Crew-12 arrives in February. In a new update on Monday, NASA confirmed that Crew-12 will be at the station for a long-duration mission of nine months.
“Chris, you’re going to be [U.S. Orbital Segment] Take the lead in just a few minutes. You are the perfect person for this. You’re gonna rock it and roll it. It’s going to be amazing,” Finke told Williams. “It was great to spend all the handover time with you and really become a true friend.”
Kud-Sverchkov, the station’s new commander, blasts off to space aboard Soyuz MS-28 on Nov. 27, 2025, along with Williams and fellow cosmonaut Sergei Mikayev, 39. This is his second space flight after launching to the ISS aboard Soyuz MS-17 in May 2020.
