On September 18, 2021 at 23:06 UTC the US Crew Dragon “Resilience” (Inspiration4 mission) spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. The spacecraft delivered to Earth 4 members of the first privately-funded, non-government crew - Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux, Christopher Sembroski. All 4 are from the USA. They spent in space 2 days, 23 hours and 03 minutes. One of the Crew Dragon missions (Crew-2 mission) is still docked at the International Space Station and is scheduled to return to Earth with four astronauts in November, making Inspiration4 the third “Crew Dragon” flight to return to Earth with human passengers (also known as “SpaceX Dragon 2” spacecraft).

On September 18, 2021 the Chinese “Tianzhou-2” unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the aft docking port of the Chinese “Tianhe” core module and in about 4 hours it was docked to the forward docking port of the “Tianhe” core module.

On September 17, 2021 at 05:34 UTC the Chinese "Shenzhou-12” landing capsule landed safely at the designated area of the Dongfeng landing site in the Gobi Desertin, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The mission’s return zone in the Inner Mongolia region, known as Dongfeng, is a new location for Shenzhou landings. The Dongfeng landing field is near the Jiuquan launch center, where “Shenzhou-12” blasted off on June 16. Previous Shenzhou missions parachuted into a different part of Inner Mongolia known as Siziwang Banner.

< ... Read more »

On September 16, 2021 at 00:02 UTC the American SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Resilience” (Inspiration4 mission) spacecraft was launched from Kennedy Space Center (LC39A), Florida, USA. The space vehicle was orbited by the “Falcon-9” rocket-carrier.

There are 4 crew members aboard the spacecraft – Mission Commander Jared Isaacman (left); pilot Sian Proctor (second left); medical officer Hayley Arceneaux (second right); mission specialist Christopher Sembroski (right). All 4 are from the USA. ... Read more »

On September 16, 2021 at 00:56 UTC, the Chinese "Shenzhou-12” (神舟十二号) manned spacecraft undocked from Chinese “Tianhe” core module of the new space station to deliver to Earth the 3 cosmonauts – Nie Haisheng (聂海胜), Liu Boming (刘伯明) and Tang Hongbo (汤鸿波).

On September 12, 2021, Japanes astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet performed the spacewalk to build a support fixture for a roll-out solar array blanket that will be attached later, to replace a device that measures the strength of the electrical environment around the ISS. The EVA lasted 6 hours and 54 minutes. It was the 4^th spacewalk for Akihiko Hoshide and the 6^th spacewalk for Thomas Pesquet.

On September 9, 2021, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novickiy and Pyotr Dubrov performed the extra vehicle activities (EVA – spacewalk) to continue power and ethernet cable connections and installing handrails on the “Nauka” module. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 20 minutes (from 14:55 till 22:15 UTC). It was the 3^rd EVA for both cosmonauts.

On September 3, 2021, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novickiy and Pyotr Dubrov performed the extra vehicle activities (EVA – spacewalk). The main objective of the spacewalk was accomplished: all eight power cables were successfully connected, along with partial connection of an ethernet cable, tying “Nauka” module into the station’s shared power and internet systems. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 54 minutes (from 14:41 till 22:35 UTC). It was the 2^nd EVA for both cosmonauts.

On August 30, 2021 at 14:30 UTC, the private U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft, the "Dragon” SpX-23 (CRS-23 flight), was successfully docked to the International Space Station. It was the new generation of Dragon cargo spacecraft also known SpaceX Dragon 2 or Cargo Dragon 2. It was the 3^rd SpaceX cargo vehicle that automatically docked to the space station without being captured by the Canadarm. This docking marked the 23^rd time a Dragon cargo spaceship has reached the space station, counting a demonstration flight in 2012 as well as the 3^rd time for the cargo version of the SpaceX Dragon-2 (Cargo Dragon-2).

On August 29, 2021 at 07:14 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-23 flight also known as SpX-23) unmanned spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. It is the 24^th successful flight of a “Dragon” spacecraft and the 23^rd successful flight of a “Dragon” cargo spacecraft to the ISS. It was the 3^rd flight for SpaceX under NASA's CRS Phase 2 contract awarded in January 2016. It was the 3^rd launch of the new generation of Dragon cargo capsules also known SpaceX Dragon 2 or ... Read more »