In the week since it departed the International Space Station to wrap up a successful cargo delivery mission, the US "Cygnus” (CRS OA--5 “Alan Poindexter”) unmanned supply spacecraft deployed four small satellites for a San Francisco-based startup. On November 25 at 20:15 UTC the Lemur-2-14 “Sokolsky” CubeSat and the Lemur-2-15 “Xiaoqing” CubeSat were deployed. On November 26 at 00:10 UTC the Lemur-2-16 (‘Anubhavthakur’) CubeSat and the Lemur-2-17 ‘Wingo’ CubeSat were deployed.

On November 22, 2016 at 15:24 UTC the Chang Zheng-3C/G2 (Long March-3C/G2) rocket-carrier was launched from Xichang Cosmodrome, Sichuan province, southwestern China. The rocket orbited the “Tianlian 1-04” satellite. It will be the fourth satellite of the network of geostationary data relay satellites tasked with keeping mission control in steady contact with Shenzhou crew capsules and a planned space station. The network will also offer data relay services for the country’s medium- and low-Earth orbiting resources satellites, as well as measurement and control support for spacecraft launches. It was the 100^th launched performed from Xichang Cosmodrome.

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 19, 2016 at 23:42 UTC the "Atlas 5” rocket-carrier was launched from Complex 41 of Cape Canaveral launch site of US Air Force. The launch was performed by United Launch Alliance supported by the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. The rocket orbited the “GOES-R” meteorological satellite. The GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R) will be the most sophisticated weather satellite with new technology never before seen and used in a geostationary orbit for forecasting. Officials estimate GOES-R will transmit more data in six months of operation than all previous GOES weather satellites combined.

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 ... Read more »

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 13:06 UTC the “Ariane-5ES” rocket-carrier was launched from Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana. The rocket orbited 4 “Galileo” navigation satellites: Galileo-FOC FM07 (Antonianna), Galileo-FOC FM12 (Lisa), Galileo-FOC FM13 (Kimberley), Galileo-FOC FM14 (Tijmen). The four satellites were built in Germany with navigation payloads from Britain. The Galileo network will have 18 satellites once the new additions enter service next year after several months of tests and verifications, but the 14 spacecraft already in space should be enough for the European Commission to offer initial navigation services by the end of the year.

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).

On November 11, 2016, at 23:14 UTC (on November 12 at 07:14 Beijing time) the “Long March–2D” (“Changzheng-2D”) rocket-carrier was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, the northwest of China. The rocket orbited the “Yunhai-1” polar-orbiting weather satellite to take data on the atmosphere and seas.