American astronaut Thomas Kenneth Mattingly passed away on October 31, 2023. He was 87 years old. He flew on “Apollo-16” and Space Shuttle STS-4 and STS-51C missions.

On October 31, 2023 at 00:11 UTC the Chinese "Shenzhou-16” landing capsule landed safely at the designated area of the Dongfeng landing site in the Gobi Desertin, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 3 Chinese cosmonauts – Jing Haipeng (景海鹏), Zhu Yangzhu (朱杨柱) and Gui Haichao (桂海潮). The cosmonauts spent in space 153 days, 22 hours and 40 minutes. The “Shenzhou-16” mission was the 11^th crewed spac ... Read more »

On October 30, 2023 at 12:37 UTC, the Chinese "Shenzhou-16” manned spacecraft undocked from the “Tiangong/Shenzhou-17” space complex to deliver to Earth the 3 cosmonauts – Jing Haipeng (景海鹏), Zhu Yangzhu (朱杨柱) and Gui Haichao (桂海潮). Three other crew members of the “Tiangong” space station – Chinese cosmonauts Tang Hongbo (汤洪波), Tang Shengjie ( ... Read more »

On Otober 26, 2023 at 09:46 UTC the Chinese "Shenzhou-17” manned spacecraft successfully completed the docking with the Chinese “Tianhe” core module of the “Tiangong” space station. The spacecraft delivered 3 Chinese cosmonauts to the station: Tang Hongbo (汤洪波), Tang Shengjie (唐胜杰), Jiang Xinlin (江新林). The new comers joined the current Tiangong expedition members – Jing Haipeng ( ... Read more »

On October 26, 2023 at 03:14 UTC the "Shenzhou-17” manned spacecraft was launched from Chinese Jiuquan Cosmodrome in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province. The space vehicle was orbited by the Chinese "Chang Zheng-2F” (Long March 2F) rocket-carrier.

The spacecraft is piloted by 3 cosmonauts: Commander, Tang Hongbo (汤洪波) - center; Tang Shengjie ( ... Read more »

On October 25, 2023, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub performed the extra vehicle activities (EVA – spacewalk) to install a radar on the “Nauka” module. In addition, the cosmonauts had to conduct inspections and photograph leak sites at an additional radiant heat exchanger in the “Nauka” module. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 41 minutes. It was the 6^th EVA for Oleg Kononenko and the 1^st EVA for Nikolai Chub.

On September 27, 2023 at 11:17 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-23” landing capsule landed safely in Kazakhstan, 148 km at the southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan. The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 3 members of ISS’s Expedition 69 – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin as well as US astronaut Francisco Rubio. They spent in space 370 days, 21 hours and 22 minutes. Seven other ISS crew members – Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa, Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Loral O'Hara remained in orbit aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 70 crew. The undocking of Soyuz MS-23 marked the end of Expedition 69 and the start of Expedition 70.

On September 27, 2023 at 07:54 UTC, the Russian “Soyuz MS-23” spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station to deliver to Earth the 3 members of Expedition 69 – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin as well as US astronaut Francisco Rubio.

On September 15, 2023 at 18:53 UTC, the Russian "Soyuz MS-24” spacecraft docked with the Russian “Rassvet” module of the International Space Station. The spacecraft delivered 3 members of Expedition 69/70 to the ISS, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub as well as US astronaut Loral O'Hara. The new comers joined current ISS Expedition 69 members – Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, Francisco Rubio, Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa and Konstantin Borisov. The 10 crew members will work together till September 27. After a “handover,” Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Loral O'Hara will replace Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio, who plan to return to Earth aboard the “Soyuz MS-23” on September 27.

On September 15, 2023 at 15:44 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-24” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 3 cosmonauts: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (center); flight-engineer 1, Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Chub (right); flight-engineer 2, US astronaut Loral O'Hara (left).

The launch was performed from Launch Site 31 (Baykonur Cosmo ... Read more »