On April 17, 2019 at 20:46 UTC the "Cygnus” privately owned U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, USA. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Antares-230” rocket-carrier. The "Cygnus” CRS-11 (NG-11 “S.S. Roger Chaffee”) unmanned supply spacecraft, built by U.S. space firm Orbital Sciences Corp., was orbited on its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. The "Cygnus” CRS-11 (NG-11 “S.S. Roger Chaffee”) is the 11^th successful flight of the Orbital ATK uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus. ... Read more »

On April 15, 2019 American astronaut Owen Kay Garriott passed away at his home in Huntsville, Alabama. He was 88. Owen Garriott flew aboard the US “Skylab” space station during the “Skylab-3” mission and on the Space Shuttle Columbia (the STS-9/Spacelab-1 mission). He spent a total of 70 days in space.

On April 08, 2019, American astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques performed a spacewalk to continue the ongoing program to replace the station’s aging batteries and upgrade power systems. The main task was to establish a redundant path of power to the Canadian-built robotic arm, known as “Canadarm-2”. The EVA (extravehicular activity) lasted 6 hours and 15 minutes. This was the first spacewalk for David Saint-Jacques and the 2nd for Anne McClain.

On April 4, 2019 at 14:22 UTC the Russian “Progress MS-11” unmanned supply spacecraft docked to the International Space Station in about 3 hours and 20 minutes after blastoff from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft was docked to the Russian “Pirs” (SO-1) module. The spacecraft delivered about 2500 kilograms of cargo for the ISS crew. The Progress spacecraft completed fastest-ever trip to the International Space Station. The previous fastest-ever trip to the ISS was performed by the Russian “Progress MS-09” unmanned supply spacecraft on 10 July 2018.

On April 4, 2019 at 11:01 UTC the “Progress MS-11” unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket-carrier.

The cover was autographed by the “Soyuz MS-12” crew: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin; American astronauts Tyler «Nick» Hague and Christina Koch.

On March 29, 2019, American astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague performed a spacewalk to help fix a solar array battery problem and to connect a second set of replacement batteries as originally planned. The EVA (extravehicular activity) lasted 6 hours and 45 minutes. This was the first spacewalk for Christina Koch and the 2^nd for Nick Hague. Christina Koch became the 14^th women to walk in space.

Valeriy Bykovskiy, number 5 Soviet cosmonaut, passed away on 27 March 2019 at the age of 84. Valery Bykovsky was one of the first men to enter cosmonaut training in the Soviet Union. He had performed three space flights and set a world solo flight record which remains unbeaten.

On March 22, 2019, American astronauts Anne McClain and Nick Hague performed a spacewalk to complete the installation of powerful new batteries, a complex task that began in 2017. Another set of batteries will be installed during another spacewalk on March 29. The EVA (extravehicular activity) lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes. This was the first spacewalk for both Anne McClain and Nick Hague. Anne McClain became the 13^th women to walk in space.

On March 15, 2019 at 01:02 UTC the Russian "Soyuz MS-12” spacecraft docked with the Russian “Rassvet” (MIM-1) module of the International Space Station.

The spacecraft delivered 3 members of Expedition 59 to the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin, American astronauts Tyler «Nick» Hague and Christina Koch. The new comers joined current ISS Expedition 58 members – Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques and American astronaut Anne McClain. The docking of “Soyuz MS-12” marked the s ... Read more »