Space Station Gets New Commander

The International Space Station got a new commander on March 9 as cosmonaut Oleg Kotov handed over to Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The change of command makes Wakata the first Japanese commander of the complex. He, NASA Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will be joined on March 26 by NASA’s Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Oleg Artemyev. Credit: NASA