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.

On November 11, 2016 at 18:30 UTC the "Atlas-5” rocket-carrier was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA. The launch was performed by United Launch Alliance supported by the 30th Space Wing of US Air Force. The rocket orbited the “WorldView-4” private Earth-imaging satellite. It will provide the clients seeking DigitalGlobe’s 30 centimeter commercial imagery, a resolution unmatched by competitors in the marketplace. The "Atlas-5” rocket also orbited seven cubesats (Prometheus-A, Prometheus-B, Aerocube-8C, Aerocube-8D, U2U, CELTEE and RAVAN), collectively called ENTERPRISE, for a National Reconnaissance Office.

On November 9, 2016, at 23:42 UTC (on November 10 at 07:42 Beijing time) the “Long March–11” (“Changzheng-11”) rocket-carrier was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, the northwest of China. The rocket orbited the “XPNAV-1” satellite. It is an innovative satellite that will look for X-ray signals from pulsars, the fast-spinning super-dense remnants of collapsed stars, to determine its exact location in space. The rocket also orbited 4 CubeSat-class satellites.