Hungarian not flow cosmonaut Béla Magyari passed away. He was 68. In May 1980 he was the backup to the first Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas on the “Soyuz-36” spacecraft of an Interkosmos mission.

On April 19, 2018, Vladimir Afanasjevich LYAKHOV, pilot-cosmonaut of USSR, passed away at the age of 76. He was a veteran of 3 space flights aboard three different space stations.

On April 4, 2018 at 13:00 UTC, the private U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft, the "Dragon” SpX-14 (CRS-14 flight), was successfully docked to the International Space Station. The linkup operation was carried out with the help of the giant 17-meter Canadarm. The capture with Canadarm-2 was performed by Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai and American astronaut Scott Tingle at 10:40 UTC. The Dragon spacecraft was maneuvered into position and attached to a berthing port on the space station's Harmony module by ground controllers in Houston and Canada. This docking marked the 14th time a Dragon spaceship has reached the space station, counting a demonstration flight in 2012. It is the second flight of the same Dragon’s capsule. The same capsule was used during SpaceX CRS-8 mission.

On April 2, 2018 at 20:30 UTC the "Falcon 9” rocket-carrier was launched from SLC-40 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA. The launch was performed by the "SpaceX” private company supported by the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. US private company SpaceX launched its "Dragon” (CRS-14 flight also known as SpX-14) unmanned spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. It is the 15th successful flight of a “Dragon” spacecraft and the 14th successful flight of a “Dragon” to the ISS.

On April 2, 2018 at 00:16 UTC, the Chinese “Tiangong-1” space station re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean. The most of “Tiangong-1” was expected to burn up during re-entry. The mission control center in Beijing monitored the space station’s descent. The Russian 821st Main Space Intelligence Centre as well as United States Space Surveillance Network also monitored the space station’s descent.

The registered letter was sent from the Post office which situated not far from the Russian 821st Main Space Intelligence Centre. Total 56 such registered letters were sent at that day.

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On March 29, 2018 American astronauts Andrew Feustel and Richard Arnold performed the spacewalk to install additional wireless communications gear, replace a balky camera and its pan-and-tilt mechanism and remove two suspect hoses in the station’s ammonia coolant system. The EVA lasted 6 hours and 10 minutes. It was the seventh spacewalk for Andrew Feustel and the third for Richard Arnold.

On March 28, 2018 at 13:50 UTC the “Progress MS-07” unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the International Space Station.

On March 23, 2018 at 19:40 UTC the Russian "Soyuz MS-08” spacecraft docked with the Russian “Poisk” (MIM-2) module of the International Space Station.

The spacecraft delivered 3 new members of Expedition 55 to the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev; American astronauts Andrew Feustel and Richard Arnold. The new comers joined current ISS expedition members – Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, American astronaut Scott Tingle and Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai (金井 ... Read more »

Soyuz MS-08 launch cover. The cover was autographed by the “Soyuz MS-08” crew: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev; American astronauts Andrew Feustel and Richard Arnold.

On March 21, 2018 at 17:44 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-08” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-FG” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 3 cosmonauts: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev (center); American astronauts Andrew Feustel (right) and Richard Arnold (left).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station on March 23. Artemyev, Feustel and Arnold will join current ISS expedition members Shkaplerov, Tingle and Kanai. ... Read more »