O Canada! Hadfield Becomes First Canadian Commander of ISS

By Nancy Atkinson - March 13, 2013 at 10:50 PM UTC | Space Exploration
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With the Canadian national anthem playing, astronaut Chris Hadfield accepted the "keys" to the International Space Station from outgoing Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford, as Hadfield became the first Canadian commander of the space station.

"Thank you very much for giving me the keys to the family car... we're going to put some miles on it," Hadfield said during the change of command ceremonies held on the ISS today, marking the start of the Hadfield-led Expedition 35.

"It is a tremendous honour to assume command of the ISS," Hadfield said in a statement issued by the Canadian Space Agency. "I will do my best to acquit myself well, accomplish the utmost as a crew for all the International Partners, and fully live and share the experience on behalf of so many around our world".

"It's a first for our country," Hadfield continued, "but is really just the culmination of a lot of other firsts. I stand on the shoulders of so many that have made this possible, and now take my turn to try and add to that solid foundation for the Canadians that follow."

Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin arrived at the station on October 25, 2012 and leave the ISS on Friday, March 15, 2013, making a landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan in their Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft. Remaining on board with Hadfield are NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian Flight Engineer Roman Romanenko. They will be joined on March 29 by Expedition 35/36 crew members Pavel Vinogradov, NASA Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com