8 Apr 2020 11:31

NASA astronaut Cassidy to be next ISS commander

MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy will replace Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka as the International Space Station (ISS) commander, spokesman for the Cosmonaut Training Center Dmitry Zhukov said.

"Manned spaceship flight engineer No. 2, ISS Expedition 63 commander Christopher Cassidy, NASA, the United States," Zhukov said while introducing participants in the online press conference of the Soyuz MS-16 spaceship preparing to leave for the ISS.

A Soyuz-2.1a rocket coupled with Soyuz MS-16 is due to depart for the ISS at 11:05 a.m. Moscow time on April 9 from Baikonur. The ship is manned by Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos and Cassidy.