On April 20, 2017 at 13:19 UTC the Russian "Soyuz MS-04” spacecraft docked with the Russian “Poisk” (MIM-2) module of the International Space Station.

The spacecraft delivered 2 new members of Expedition 51 to the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and American astronaut Jack Fisher. The new comers joined current ISS expedition members – Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and American astronaut Peggy Whitson.

On April 20, 2017 at 11:40 UTC the Chang Zheng-7 (Long March-7) rocket-carrier was launched from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center (WSLC), located in Wenchang on Hainan Island off China’s southern coastline.

The rocket orbited the “Tianzhou-1” unmanned supply spacecraft. The “Tianzhou-1” (Chinese: 天舟一号) is the test mission of the Tianzhou-class unmanned cargo spacecraft. It is developed as part of the manned space program of China. Tianzhou means "heavenly vessel" in Chinese. The spacecraft is to dock with the Chinese “Tiangong-2” space station to conduct several months of robot ... Read more »

On April 20, 2017 at 07:13 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-04” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-FG” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 2 cosmonauts: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin (left) and American astronaut Jack Fisher (right).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station at the same day, on April 20. Yurchikhin and Fisher will join current ISS expedition members Novitskiy, Pesquet and Whitson.

On April 18, 2017 at 15:11 UTC the "Cygnus” privately owned U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral launch site of US Air Force. The launch was performed by United Launch Alliance supported by the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. The "Cygnus” (CRS OA--7 “John Glenn”) unmanned supply spacecraft, built by U.S. space firm Orbital Sciences Corp., was orbited by the “Atlas-5” rocket-carrier on its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. The "Cygnus” (CRS OA-7) is the 7th successful flight of the Orbital ATK uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus. The “Cygnus” spacecraft for this mission was named John Glenn in honor of astronaut and senator John Glenn, the first US astronaut to orbit the Eart ... Read more »

On April 10, 2017 at 11:21 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-02” landing capsule landed safely in a distance of about 147 kilometers to south-east from the city of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

photo by NASA

The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 3 members of ISS’s Expedition 50 – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko as well as American astronaut Robert Kimbrough. They spent in space 173 days. Three other ISS crew members – Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and American astronaut Peggy Whitson remained in orbit aboard ... Read more »

On April 10, 2017 at 07:57 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-02” spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station to deliver to Earth the 3 members of Expedition 50 – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko as well as American astronaut Robert Kimbrough.

On April 8, 2017, Georgy Mikhajlovich Grechko, pilot-cosmonaut of USSR, passed away at the age of 85. A retired cosmonaut and twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Georgy Grechko, performed three journeys into space – one of which was a record. The cosmonaut died on Saturday morning “because of age and a vast number of chronic illnesses,” his daughter Olga told TASS. In 1978 Georgy Grechko was the first officially appointed space postmaster.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences to the family and friends of cosmonaut Georgy Grechko on his passing.

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On March 30, 2017, American astronauts Robert Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson performed the spacewalk to continue work to set up a second docking port for U.S. crew ferry spaceships. They also installed an upgraded computer relay box and protective shielding. It was the 6^th spacewalk for Kimbrough and the 9^th for Whitson. Peggy Whitson, a veteran of two earlier long-duration station visits, set a new record for cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut, surpassing Sunita Williams’ mark of 50 hours and 40 minutes. When the spacewalk concluded, Whitson’s total EVA time stood at 53 hours and 22 minutes, moving her up to fifth on the list of most experienced spacewalkers.

On March 24, 2017, American astronauts Robert Kimbrough and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet performed the spacewalk. The spacewalkers disconnected cables and electrical connections between the “PMA-3” docking adapter and the station’s “Tranquility” module to prepare for the relocation of the docking adapter to the space-facing port on the “Harmony” module, in advance of the delivery of a new docking adapter to the complex next year for commercial crew spaceships owned by Boeing and SpaceX. Kimbrough and Pesquet also lubricated a latching end effector on the Dextre robot, a two-armed handyman provided by the Canadian Space Agency, inspected a radiator valve to look for signs of a small ammonia leak, and replaced cameras outside the Japanese lab module. The EVA lasted six-and-a-half hour. It was the fifth spacewalk for Kimbrough and the second for Pesquet. ... Read more »

On March 19, 2017 at 14:46 UTC the "Dragon” capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at about 320 km southwest from Long Beach, California, USA. The Dragon delivered to Earth 1652 kilograms of cargo. It was the "SpaceX CRS-10” mission. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. It was the 10th flight of Dragon to the ISS with docking.