On October 19, 2016 at 08:05 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-02” 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 Sergey Ryzhikov (center); Russian cosmonaut Andrei Borisenko (right) and American astronaut Robert Kimbrough (left).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station on October 21. Ryzhikov, Borisenko and Kimbrough will join current ISS expedition members Ivanishin, Onishi and Rubins.

On October 18, 2016 at 19:24 UTC (on October 19 at 03:24 Beijing time) the Chinese "Shenzhou-11” manned spacecraft successfully completed an automated docking with the "Tiangong-2” space lab. Two Chinese cosmonauts (Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong) aboard the "Shenzhou-11” monitored and reported the docking operation to the control center. The crew open hatches leading into the “Tiangong-2” module within a few hours of arriving to begin a one-month stay inside the mini-station.

On October 17, 2016 at 23:45 UTC the "Cygnus” privately owned U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS). MARS is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, in the Atlantic Ocean just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virginia, USA. The launch was performed by Orbital ATK Inc., an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. The "Cygnus” (CRS OA--5 “Alan Poindexter”) unmanned supply spacecraft, built by U.S. space firm Orbital Sciences Corp., was orbited by the “Antares-230” rocket-carrier on its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. The "Cygnus” (CRS OA-5) is the 6th successful flight of the Orbital ATK uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus. The &ld ... Read more »