On September 21, 2022 at 17:06 UTC, the Russian "Soyuz MS-22” spacecraft docked with the Russian “Rassvet” module of the International Space Station. The spacecraft delivered 3 members of Expedition 67/68 to the ISS, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin as well as US astronaut Francisco Rubio. The new comers joined current ISS Expedition 67 members – Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov; US astronauts Kjell N. Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins; Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. The 10 crew members will work together during 8 days. After a 8-day “handover,” Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio will replace Artemyev, Matveev and Korsakov, who plan to return to Earth aboard the “Soyuz MS-21” on September 29.

On September 21, 2022 at 13:54 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-22” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 3 cosmonauts: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev (center); flight-engineer 1, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin (right); flight-engineer 2, US astronaut Francisco Rubio (left).

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The launch was per ... Read more »

On September 19, 2022, Valeriy Vladimirovich Polyakov, pilot-cosmonaut of USSR, passed away at the age of 80. He was a Hero of the Soviet Union as well as a Hero of the Russian Federation. He performed 2 journeys into space – one of which was a record, the longest single stay in space, staying aboard the Mir space station for more than 14 months (437 days 18 hours) during one trip.

On September 17, 2022 Chinese cosmonauts Chen Dong and Cai Xuzhe performed the first spacewalk to install the foot restraint B and an assisting hatch handle. In addition, they installed payload a circulating pump and demonstrated extravehicular emergency rescue. During the emergency drill, Cai Xuzhe mimed an unconscious astronaut. Chen Dong was supposed to take Cai Xuzhe, who weighed almost 200 kg with his spacesuit, to the airlock. He had to be careful not to damage the antennas and outboard cameras. Chen Dong connected his safety lines to his comrade's and heaved him along the outer wall. The exercise was successfully completed. The EVA lasted 4 hours and 12 minutes. It was the 2^nd spacewalk for Chen Dong and the 1^st spacewalk for Cai ... Read more »

On 2 September, 2022, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev performed the extra vehicle activities (EVA – spacewalk) to relocate an external control panel for the arm from one operating area to another and test a rigidizing mechanism on the arm that will be used to facilitate the grasping of payloads. Finally they extended the Strela-2 from Zarya to Poisk. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 47 minutes. It was the 8^th EVA for Oleg Artemyev and the 4^th EVA for Denis Matveev. It was the 64^th Russian EVA in the frames of the ISS program. It was the 160^th EVA performed by cosmonauts in Soviet/Russian spacesuits since March 1965.