On April 8, 2017, Georgy Mikhajlovich Grechko, pilot-cosmonaut of USSR, passed away at the age of 85. A retired cosmonaut and twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Georgy Grechko, performed three journeys into space – one of which was a record. The cosmonaut died on Saturday morning “because of age and a vast number of chronic illnesses,” his daughter Olga told TASS. In 1978 Georgy Grechko was the first officially appointed space postmaster.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences to the family and friends of cosmonaut Georgy Grechko on his passing.

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On March 30, 2017 at 22:27 UTC the "Falcon 9” rocket-carrier was launched from LC-39A of the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch was performed by the "SpaceX” private company supported by the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. The rocket orbited the SES 10 communications satellite. The launch marked the first time SpaceX has reused the first stage of one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The first stage of the Falcon 9 was the star of the show, making a historic relaunch after SpaceX recovered the booster on a Dragon mission in April 2016. The previously-flown booster (the first stage of the Falcon 9) performed its mission successfully and in 9 minutes after the launch it carried out a vertical landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean. Touchdown on SpaceX’s sea-based landing platform occurred around 340 miles (550 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral. ... Read more »

On March 30, 2017, American astronauts Robert Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson performed the spacewalk to continue work to set up a second docking port for U.S. crew ferry spaceships. They also installed an upgraded computer relay box and protective shielding. It was the 6^th spacewalk for Kimbrough and the 9^th for Whitson. Peggy Whitson, a veteran of two earlier long-duration station visits, set a new record for cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut, surpassing Sunita Williams’ mark of 50 hours and 40 minutes. When the spacewalk concluded, Whitson’s total EVA time stood at 53 hours and 22 minutes, moving her up to fifth on the list of most experienced spacewalkers.