On August 19, 2016 American astronauts Jeffrey Williams and Kathleen Rubins performed the spacewalk to attach docking adapter to space station for commercial vehicles. Attached to the station’s no-longer-needed shuttle port at the front of the station, the Boeing-built International Docking Adapter will allow spacecraft from Boeing and SpaceX companies to bring crews to the ISS, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz ferry spaceships. The new docking mechanism was carried up to the station aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in June. The EVA lasted 5 hours and 58 minutes. It was the fourth spacewalk for Jeffrey Williams and the first one for Kathleen Rubins.
On July 20, 2016 at 14:03 UTC the private U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft, the "Dragon” SpX-9 (CRS-9 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 Jeffrey Williams at 10:56 UTC. The Dragon spacecraft was maneuvered into position and attached to a berthing port on the space station's Harmony module.
On July 19, 2016 at 00:20 UTC the Russian “Progress MS-03” 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 six-member ISS crew.
On July 18, 2016 at 04:45 UTC the "Falcon 9” rocket-carrier was launched from the Cape Canaveral US Air Force Station in Florida. 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-9 flight) unmanned spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. It is the 10th successful flight of a “Dragon” spacecraft and the 9th successful flight of a “Dragon” to the ISS.
On July 16, 2016 at 21:41 UTC (on July 17, 2016 at 00:41 Moscow time) the “Progress MS-03” unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Soyuz-U” rocket-carrier.
On July 9, 2016 at 04:06 UTC the Russian "Soyuz MS” new spacecraft docked with the Russian “Rassvet” (MIM-1) module of the International Space Station. The spacecraft delivered three new members of Expedition 48 to the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Anatoliy Ivanishin, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi (大西 卓哉) and American astronaut Kathleen Rubins. The new comers joined current ISS expedition members – Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka as well as American astronaut Jeffrey Williams to form Expedition 48 crew of 6 members.
On July 7, 2016 at 01:36 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS” 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 Anatoliy Ivanishin (center); Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi (大西 卓哉) (right) and American astronaut Kathleen Rubins (left).
Photo by Russian Cosmonaut Training Center.
The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station on July 9, 2016. Ivanishin, Onishi and Rubins will join current ISS expedition members Ovchinin, Skripochka and Williams.
On July 3, 2016 at 03:48 UTC the “Progress MS-01” unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the Russian “Pirs” module of the International Space Station. At the same day the spacecraft was deorbited. Its engine was started for deorbiting at 07:00 UTC. Non-burnt fragments of the spacecraft drowned in the remote area of the Pacific.
On July 1, 2016 at 05:35 UTC the Russian “Progress MS-01” unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the “Pirs” module of the ISS to carry out a test of the system improved remote manual spacecraft control – TORU (teleoperator control mode). After backing away to a distance of about 200 meters, Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka took manual control of the spacecraft, using a workstation in the “Zvezda” Service Module. Progress redocked under TORU control at 06:05 UTC.
On June 22, 2016 at 13:29 UTC the US "Cygnus” (CRS OA 6 “Rick Husband”) unmanned supply spacecraft was deorbited. The spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere and burned up over the South Pacific Ocean. Packed with trash and other equipment tagged for disposal, an Orbital Sciences Corp. “Cygnus” spacecraft plunged back into the atmosphere over the uninhabited Pacific Ocean. It was the 5th flight of "Cygnus” to the ISS.
