On December 13, 2016 at 14:18 UTC the 6th Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV "Kounotori-6”) was installed on its berthing port of the "Harmony” module of the International Space Station.

On December 10, 2016 at 16:11 UTC (on December 11 at 00:11 Beijing time) the Chang Zheng-3B/G2 (Long March-3B/G2) rocket-carrier was launched from Xichang Cosmodrome, Sichuan province, southwestern China. The rocket orbited the “Fengyun-4A” new-generation geostationary weather satellite to provide uninterrupted views of storm systems across Asia.

On December 09, 2016 at 13:26 UTC the Japanese HTV-6 (H-2 Transfer Vehicle) unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Tanegashima Cosmodrome situated at the island located 115 km south of Kyushu. Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. The spacecraft was orbited by the Japanese H-2B rocket-carrier. The mission is Japan's sixth cargo delivery flight to the International Space station. The HTV-6 mission is also named Kounotori-6. Kounotori is the Japanese word for white stork. The spacecraft is to deliver about 5900 kilograms of cargo to the station’s crew.

On December 08, 2016, American astronaut John Glenn passed away. He was 95 years old. He was the first American to orbit the Earth.

On December 07, 2016 at 23:53 UTC the " Delta-4M+ (5,4)” rocket-carrier was launched from Complex 37B 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 WGS-8 (Wideband Global SATCOM-8) telecommunication satellite. 

On December 07, 2016 at 04:55 UTC the PSLV (XL)-C36 rocket-carrier was launched from Sriharikota spaceport, 80 km from Chennai, India. The rocket (PSLV - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) orbited the “Resourcesat-2A” resource-mapping satellite. The “Resourcesat-2A” satellite will track agriculture, water resources, soil contamination, and the growth of Indian cities.

On December 05, 2016 at 13:51 UTC the “Vega” rocket-carrier was launched from Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana. The rocket orbited the Turkish “Göktürk-1A” military satellite. It is a $300 million project to feed improved surveillance imagery to the Turkish military and advance the country’s aerospace manufacturing base. Thales Alenia Space, a segment of Telespazio minority owner Thales Group, manufactured the “Göktürk-1A” satellite at its plant in Cannes, France.

On December 01, 2016 at 14:51 UTC the “Progress MS-04” unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was to be orbited by the “Soyuz-U” rocket-carrier. The “Progress MS-04” spacecraft was lost as it flew nearly 190 kilometers over the Tuva Republic in Southeastern Russia. Engineers lost telemetry during the Soyuz rocket’s third stage engine burn, and most of the vehicle’s fragments burned up in the atmosphere.