ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will fly to the Space Station as part of Crew-7, piloting of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and will become the International Space Station crew commander during Expedition 70.

Andreas would become the longest serving European ISS commander after arriving in August. He will be commander of Earth’s orbiting outpost for five months, until he returns home in early 2024. Andreas will take over from Roscosmos astronaut Sergey Prokopyev, who has been in command since 12 October 2022 who took over the commanding role from ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

“It is a big honour for me to be the next commander of the International Space Station. I look forward to taking on the responsibilities and ensure a great stay for all crew members during expedition 70.” says Andreas.

Besides Andreas’s crew members from Crew-7, Expedition 70 is set to have NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, Roscosmos astronauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub onboard, with more arriving later.