NASA’s Jessica Meir hands ISS command to cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov ahead of Crew-12 return

International Space Station (ISS) commander Jessica Meir passed on the leadership of the orbital lab to Roscosmos' Pyotr Dubrov on Sunday. The key to the ISS was handed over to the experienced cosmonaut in an official ceremony ahead of Meir's return on October 7, 2026 as a part of Crew-12. Meir, who took charge of the ISS on July 25 this year, described feeling bittersweet, referring to how their stay lasted longer than planned.

Speaking about getting the role in the first place from Soyuz MS-28's Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and whether she would be able to live up to the expectations, she said, "The main thing that I saw was that he had struck this camaraderie between the crew." She talked about "the expedition mentality" which drove them to complete their respective missions, and that everyone at the station was truly one team with one mission. She also talked about how she never aimed to be a commander of the ISS, and didn't think it was a role she needed to feel fulfilled in her career. "I came to appreciate it more and more as I had my time up here, the training time on the ground and then our mission, and I really understood what it meant to be in charge, to have to be someone with experience to try to help the people up here that have never been here before."

At the moment, the orbital outpost is being occupied by 11 spacefarers during what is an overlap between Crew-12 and Crew-13. The four members of the latter, along with the crew of the recently arrived Soyuz MS-29, will form part of Expedition 75 at the station. Crew-12 was originally part of Expedition 74, with the departure of the three-person Soyuz MS-28 marking the transition to Expedition 75 in July 2026. Given this change in personnel, Meir's experience came in handy as all of the new arrivals were also officially handed over mission responsibilities from the departing crew on Sunday. Additionally, Crew-12 members have also been discussing emergency roles and responsibilities, while transferring safety gear and other cargo into the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Checks of their pressure suits were also performed as they configured the systems of their ride home.

Meir will return to Earth after becoming the woman with the third-highest number of spacewalks, after Peggy Whitson and Sunita Williams. She was part of the first all-female spacewalk alongside Christina Koch of NASA during her last trip to space during Expeditions 61 and 62 between 2019 and 2020. During this particular stint across Expeditions 74 and 75, Meir performed four spacewalks. She was recently part of an extravehicular activity that fixed the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Because of her background in biology, she also helped further the field of biomedical research and biotechnologies.

Dubrov, who has previous experience from 2021 and 2022 when he arrived with Soyuz MS-18, was honored to get the command of the space station. He also commemorated the 69th anniversary of the first-ever satellite sent to space, Sputnik 1. Speaking about the ISS, he said, "It’s the greatest symbol of what we can do if we work together; (it) is the greatest symbol of international cooperation, and to be commander of this crew, I think it’s the best position [in the] world." He further added, "I have to learn a lot about how to be a [commander] of such a magnificent people, but I hope I will do my best and of course, I would like to say thank you for all the people who make and [are] making this possible, who support us during [these] flights, and who lead our science, our engineering."

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