On December 21, 2021 at 10:07 UTC the "Falcon 9” rocket-carrier was launched from LC-39A of the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. The launch was performed by the "SpaceX” private company supported by the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. US private company SpaceX launched its "Dragon” (CRS-24 flight also known as SpX-24) unmanned spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. It is the 25^th successful flight of a “Dragon” spacecraft and the 24^th successful flight of a “Dragon” cargo spacecraft to the ISS. It was the 4^th flight for SpaceX under NASA's CRS Phase 2 contract awarded in January 2016. It was the 4^th launch of the new generation of Dragon cargo capsules also known SpaceX Dragon 2 ... Read more »

On December 20, 2021 at 03:13 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-20” landing capsule landed safely in Kazakhstan, 148 km at the southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan. The spacecraft delivered to Earth 3 persons – Commander, Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Misurkin as well as 2 spaceflight-participants from Japan, Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano. They spent in space 11 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes. Seven other ISS crew members – Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; US astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron as well as German astronaut Matthias Maurer remained in orbit aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 66 crew.

On December 20, 2021 at 02:50 Moscow time, the Russian “Soyuz MS-20” spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station to deliver to Earth 3 persons – Commander, Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Misurkin as well as 2 spaceflight-participants from Japan, Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano.

On December 15, 2021, the US "Cygnus” CRS-16 (NG-16, the S. S. Ellison Onizuka) unmanned supply spacecraft was deorbited.

On December 8, 2021 at 13:40 UTC, the Russian "Soyuz MS-20” spacecraft docked with the Russian “Poisk” module of the International Space Station. The spacecraft delivered 3 crew members to the ISS - Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Misurkin as well as 2 spaceflight-participants from Japan, Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano. Unlike previous Soyuz flights to the ISS, “Soyuz MS-20” did not deliver any crew members for an ISS Expedition or serve as a lifeboat for any crew members on board the station. Instead, it was commanded by a single professional cosmonaut and carried two space tourists. The new comers joined current ISS Expedition 66 members – Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; US astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron as well as German astronaut Matthias Maurer. Aleksandr ... Read more »

On December 8, 2021 at 07:38 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-20” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket-carrier. There are 3 crew members aboard the spacecraft: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Misurkin (center); as well as 2 spaceflight-participants from Japan, Yusaku Maezawa (right) and Yozo Hirano (left).

The launch was performed from Launch Site 31 (Baykonur Cosmodrome S ... Read more »

On December 2, 2021 American astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron performed the spacewalk to replace a faulty antenna on the ISS’s port-side truss. The EVA lasted 6 hours and 32 minutes. It was the 5^th spacewalk for Thomas Marshburn and the first one for Kayla Barron.

On November 26, 2021 at 15:19 UTC the Russian “Progress M-UM” unmanned supply spacecraft with “Prichal” module docked to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was docked to the Russian “Nauka” module.

On November 25, 2021 at 14:23 Moscow time the Russian “Progress MS-17” unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the International Space Station. In about 4 hours it was deorbited. Non-burnt fragments of the spacecraft drowned in the remote area of the Pacific.

On November 24, 2021 at 13:06 UTC the “Progress M-UM” unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Soyuz-2.1b” rocket-carrier. Progress M-UM is a specially modified “Progress M” Russian unmanned supply spacecraft to deliver the “Prichal” module to the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) of the International Space Station (ISS). “Prichal” is a nodal module (the spherical, ball-shaped docking node) that has a pressurized spherical ball-shaped design with six hybrid docking ports.

On November 20, 2021, the US "Cygnus” CRS-16 (NG-16, the S. S. Ellison Onizuka) unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the International Space Station. After that, the spacecraft, was released by using the “Canadarm-2” orbiting complex's huge robotic arm at 16:01 UTC. It was the 16^th successful flight of "Cygnus” to the ISS.

On November 11, 2021 at 23:32 UTC the US Crew Dragon “Endurance” (Crew-3 mission) spacecraft docked with a docking adapter on the “Harmony” module of the International Space Station. The mission also known as USCV-3 (US Crew Vehicle 3). The spacecraft delivered US astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron as well as German astronaut Matthias Maurer to the ISS. The new comers joined current ISS Expedition 66 members – Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov as well as US astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

On November 11, 2021 at 02:03 UTC the American SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Endurance” (Crew-3 mission) spacecraft was launched from Kennedy Space Center (LC39A), Florida, USA. The mission also known as USCV-3 (US Crew Vehicle 3). The space vehicle was orbited by the “Falcon-9” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 4 astronauts – spacecraft commander American astronaut Raja Chari; pilot, American astronaut Thomas Marshburn; mission specialist 1, German astronaut Matthias Maurer; mission specialist 2, American astronaut Kayla Barron. It was the maiden flight of Crew Dragon Endurance.

... Read more »