(Reuters) – The International Space Station’s latest expedition officially began on Friday (June 2) after Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency left the space station for earth.
The two flight crew members, embarking on Expedition 52 having arrived on Expedition 51, bade an emotional goodbye as National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut and Expedition 51 Commander Peggy Whitson hugged them before the closing of the hatch that separated the space station from the capsule that would carry the men home to earth.
Command of the International Space Station was handed over to Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin on Thursday (June 1).
Novitskiy and Pesquet were set to land in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz spacecraft later on Friday.