On October 31, 2022 at 07:37 UTC, the new “Mengtian” ("Dreaming of the Heavens") module was launched from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center (WSLC), located in Wenchang on Hainan Island off China’s southern coastline. The module was orbited by the Chang Zheng-5B (Long March-5B) rocket-carrier. It is the second Laboratory Cabin Module launched, after “Wentian”, and the second module to extend the existing “Tianhe” core module of the station. The module will dock with the “Tianhe” core module on China’s “Tiangong” station later on October 24.

On October 28, 2022 at 02:48 UTC the Russian “Progress MS-21” unmanned supply spacecraft docked to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was docked to the Russian “Poisk” module. The spacecraft delivered about 2500 kilograms of cargo for the ISS crew. Since 1978, It has been the 182^nd docking of Progress spacecraft to orbital stations, including the 87^th docking with the ISS.

On October 26, 2022 at 00:20 UTC the “Progress MS-21” unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket-carrier.

On October 24, 2022 at 01:45 Moscow time the Russian “Progress MS-19” unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the International Space Station. In about 4 hours it was deorbited. Non-burnt fragments of the spacecraft drowned in the remote area of the Pacific.

On October 16, 2022 American astronaut Lodewijk van den Berg passed away. He was 90. He performed one space flight by US Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51B in 1985.

On October 14, 2022 at 20:56 UTC the US Crew Dragon “Freedom” (Crew-4 mission) spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville.

The spacecraft delivered from the ISS to Earth 4 members of Expedition 68: US astronauts Kjell N. Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins as well as Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. They spent in space 170 days, 13 hours and 03 minutes.

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On October 14, 2022 at 16:05 UTC the US Crew Dragon “Freedom” (Crew-4 mission) spacecraft undocked from zenith docking port of the Harmony module of the International Space Station to deliver to Earth 4 members of Expedition 68: US astronauts Kjell N. Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins as well as Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

On October 13, 2022 American astronaut James Alton McDivitt passed away. He was 93. He performed 2 space flights. He commanded the “Gemini-4” mission, during which Edward White performed the first US spacewalk, and later the “Apollo-9” spacecraft, which was the first crewed flight test of the Apollo lunar module and the complete set of Apollo flight hardware.

On October 6, 2022 at 21:07 UTC the US Crew Dragon “Endurance” (Crew-5 mission) spacecraft docked with a docking adapter on the “Harmony” module of the International Space Station. The mission also known as USCV-5 (US Crew Vehicle 5). The spacecraft delivered US astronauts Nicole Mann and astronaut Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina to the ISS. The new comers joined current ISS Expedition 68 members - Kjell N. Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, Samantha Cristoforetti, Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, Francisco Rubio.

On October 5, 2022 at 16:00 UTC the American SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Endurance” (Crew-5 mission) spacecraft was launched from Kennedy Space Center (LC39A), Florida, USA. The mission also known as USCV-5 (US Crew Vehicle 5). The space vehicle was orbited by the “Falcon-9FT” rocket-carrier.

The spacecraft is piloted by 4 astronauts – spacecraft commander American astronaut Nicole Mann; pilot, American astronaut Josh Cassada; mission specialist 1, Japanese astr ... Read more »