On December 20, 2018 at 01:40 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-09” spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station to deliver to Earth the 3 members of Expedition 57 – Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopiev, German astronaut Alexander Gerst and American astronaut Serena Maria Auñón-Chancellor.

On December 19, 2018 at 16:37 UTC the Russian "Soyuz-STA” rocket-carrier was launched from Kourou launch site in French Guiana. The rocket equipped with the "Fregat-M” booster orbited the “CSO-1” (Composante Spatiale Optique) French military satellite. The spacecraft is designed to conduct surveillance for military and security purposes, in particular for collecting data used in the planning and implementation of military operations.

On December 19, 2018 at 10:40 UTC the GSLV Mk.II (F11) (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket-carrier was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island, India's primary launch site on the country's east coast. The rocket orbited the GSAT-7A telecommunication satellite.

On December 16, 2018 at 06:33 UTC, the “Electron” rocket-carrier was launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, the commercial spaceport located on the Mahia Peninsula on the eastern coast of New Zealand's North Island. The rocket orbited 13 NASA’s CubeSats.