On October 16, 2017 at 11:04 UTC the Russian “Progress MS-07” unmanned supply spacecraft docked to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was docked to the Russian “Pirs” module. The spacecraft delivered about 2500 kilograms of cargo for the ISS crew.

On October 14, 2017 at 08:46 UTC the “Progress MS-07” unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Soyuz-2.1A” rocket-carrier.

On October 5, 2017, American astronauts Randolph Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei performed a spacewalk. The primary goal of the spacewalk was to replace latching end effector A, or LEE-A, one of two grappling mechanisms on the station’s Canadian-built robot arm. The EVA (extravehicular activity) lasted 6 hours and 55 minutes. This was the third spacewalk for Randolph Bresnik and the first one for Mark Vande Hei.

On September 13, 2017 at 02:55 UTC the Russian "Soyuz MS-06” spacecraft docked with the Russian “Poisk” (MIM-2) module of the International Space Station.

The spacecraft delivered 3 new members of Expedition 53 to the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Misurkin; American astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joseph Acaba. The new comers joined current ISS expedition members – Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky, American astronaut Randolph Bresnik and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

On September 12, 2017 at 21:17 UTC (on September 13 at 00:17 Moscow time) the Russian “Soyuz MS-06” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-FG” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 3 cosmonauts: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Misurkin (center); American astronauts Mark Vande Hei (right) and Joseph Acaba (left).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station at the same day (by Moscow time), September 13. Misurkin, Vande Hei a ... Read more »

On September 12, 2017 at 15:58 UTC the Chinese “Tianzhou-1” unmanned supply spacecraft completed an express docking with the unoccupied “Tiangong-2” Chinese Space station. This fast docking took 6.5 hours to complete. Previously the rendezvous and docking process took around two days, or 30 orbits.

On September 3, 2017 at 01:22 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-04” landing capsule landed safely in Kazakhstan.

photo by NASA

The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 3 members of ISS’s Expedition 52 – Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, American astronauts Jack Fisher and Peggy Whitson. Fyodor Yurchikhin and Jack Fisher spent in space 136 days. Peggy Whitson spent in space 290 days. Three other ISS crew members – Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky, American astronaut Randolph Bresnik and It ... Read more »

On September 2, 2017 at 21:58 UTC (on September 3 at 00:58 Moscow time) the Russian “Soyuz MS-04” spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station to deliver to Earth the 3 members of Expedition 52 – Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, American astronauts Jack Fisher and Peggy Whitson.

On August 17, 2017, Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazansky performed the extra vehicle activities (EVA – spacewalk). The cosmonauts launched five small science and technology satellites overboard and spent the rest of the spacewalk servicing external experiments and carrying out routine but time-consuming inspections and maintenance. They also installed 10 temperature sensors on the “Poisk” module and serviced another external experiment. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 34 minutes. It was the 9^th EVA overall for Yurchikhin and the 4^th for Ryazanskiy.

On August 16, 2017, the private U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft, the "Dragon” SpX-12 (CRS-12 flight), was successfully docked to the International Space Station. The linkup operation was carried out with the help of the giant 17-meter Canadarm. The capture with Canadarm-2 was performed by American astronaut Jack Fisher at 10:52 UTC. The Dragon spacecraft was maneuvered into position and attached to a berthing port on the space station's Harmony module. This docking marked the 12^th time a Dragon spaceship has reached the space station, counting a demonstration flight in 2012.