Hadfield is first Canadian to take command of ISS

Chris Hadfield has become the first Canadian astronaut to take charge of the International Space Station. The command turnover ceremony took place last night, Russia’s Roscosmos agency reports.

The 35th long-duration ISS crew consisting of Canadian Hadfield, Russian Roman Romanenko and American Thomas Marshburn will stay on, and the previous of two Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin, and Nasa astronaut Kevin Ford, are preparing to fly back to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz TMA-06M ship.

It will undock from the ISS at 4:30 a.m. on Friday. The descent capsule is due to land three and a half hours later in Kazakhstan, Interfax reports.