On December 13, 2016 at 14:18 UTC the 6th Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV "Kounotori-6”) was installed on its berthing port of the "Harmony” module of the International Space Station.
On December 09, 2016 at 13:26 UTC the Japanese HTV-6 (H-2 Transfer Vehicle) unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Tanegashima Cosmodrome situated at the island located 115 km south of Kyushu. Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. The spacecraft was orbited by the Japanese H-2B rocket-carrier. The mission is Japan's sixth cargo delivery flight to the International Space station. The HTV-6 mission is also named Kounotori-6. Kounotori is the Japanese word for white stork. The spacecraft is to deliver about 5900 kilograms of cargo to the station’s crew.
On December 01, 2016 at 14:51 UTC the “Progress MS-04” unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was to be orbited by the “Soyuz-U” rocket-carrier. The “Progress MS-04” spacecraft was lost as it flew nearly 190 kilometers over the Tuva Republic in Southeastern Russia. Engineers lost telemetry during the Soyuz rocket’s third stage engine burn, and most of the vehicle’s fragments burned up in the atmosphere.
On November 27, 2016 at 23:40 UTC the US "Cygnus” (CRS OA--5 “Alan Poindexter”) unmanned supply spacecraft was deorbited. The spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere and burned up over the South Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand. Packed with trash and other equipment tagged for disposal, an Orbital Sciences Corp. “Cygnus” spacecraft plunged back into the atmosphere over the uninhabited Pacific Ocean. It was the 6th flight of "Cygnus” to the ISS.
On November 21, 2016, the US "Cygnus” (CRS OA--5 “Alan Poindexter”) unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the International Space Station. The spacecraft, which had been attached to the space station since October 23, 2016, was released by astronauts aboard the station using the orbiting complex's huge robotic arm at 13:22 UTC. Astronauts Robert Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet managed the departure procedures from a robotics work station inside the cupola module. It was the 6th successful flight of "Cygnus” to the ISS. But Cygnus CRS-5 spacecraft’s mission is not over.
On November 19, 2016 at 21:58 UTC (on November 20 at 00:58 Moscow time) the Russian "Soyuz MS-03” spacecraft docked with the Russian “Rassvet” (MIM-1) module of the International Space Station.
The spacecraft delivered three new members of Expedition 50 to the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and American astronaut Peggy Whitson. The new comers joined current ISS expedition members – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko as well as American astronaut Robert Kimbrough.
On November 11, 2016 at 05:59 UTC the Chinese "Shenzhou-11” landing capsule landed safely at the designated area in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
photo by www.news.cn
The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 2 Chinese cosmonauts - Jing Haipeng (景海鵬) and Chen Dong (陳冬). The landing took place a day after the crew departed the “Tiangong-2” space station. The cosmonauts spent 32 days in space. Jing Haipeng, the mission commander, performed his third space flight after setting the record for the most cumulative time in space by a Chinese citizen with 47 days. C
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On November 17, 2016 at 20:20 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-03” 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 Novitskiy (center); French astronaut Thomas Pesquet (right) and American astronaut Peggy Whitson (left).
Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.
The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station on November 20. Novitskiy, Pesquet and Whitson will join current ISS expedition members Ryzhikov, Borisenko and Kimbrough.
On November 17, 2016 at 04:41 UTC the Chinese "Shenzhou-11” manned spacecraft undocked from the "Tiangong-2” space station to deliver to Earth two Chinese cosmonauts - Jing Haipeng (景海鵬) and Chen Dong (陳冬).
