On June 18, 2016 at 09:15 UTC the Russian “Soyuz TMA-19M” landing capsule landed safely in a distance of 150 kilometers from the city of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

photo by NASA

The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 3 members of ISS’s Expedition 47 – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, American astronaut Timothy Kopra and British astronaut Timothy Peake. They spent in space 186 days. Three other ISS crew members – Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka as well as American astronaut Jeffrey Williams remained in orbit aboard the International Space Statio ... Read more »

On June 18, 2016 at 05:52 UTC the Russian “Soyuz TMA-19M” spacecraft undocked from the Russian "Poisk” module of the International Space Station to deliver to Earth the 3 members of Expedition 47 – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, American astronaut Timothy Kopra and British astronaut Timothy Peake.

On June 14, 2016 the US "Cygnus” (CRS OA--6 “Rick Husband”) unmanned supply spacecraft was undocked from the International Space Station. The spacecraft, which had been attached to the space station since March 26, 2016, was released by astronauts aboard the station using the orbiting complex's huge robotic arm at 13:30 UTC. It was the 5th successful flight of "Cygnus” to the ISS.

On May 18, 2016 two pairs of satellites were launched from the International Space Station. It was the satellites of Lemur-2. The time of launch: 07:05 UTC and 11:15 UTC. The names of the satellites: 2-5 'Theresacondor', 2-6 'Kane', 2-7 'Nick-Allain' and 2-8 'Jeff'. All the satellites were delivered to the ISS by the "Cygnus” (CRS OA--6 “Rick Husband”) spacecraft in March 2016.

On May 17 and 18, 2016 four pairs of satellites were launched from the International Space Station. It was the satellites of Flock type (1E series). The time of launch: 08:45 UTC; 12:00 UTC; 23:00 UTC on May 17 and at 02:18 UTC on May 18. All the satellites were delivered to the ISS by the “Cygnus” OA-4 spacecraft in December 2015.

On May 16, 2016 five micro satellites were launched from the International Space Station. The MinXSS (Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer) astronomic satellite and the CADRE (CubeSat investigating Atmospheric Density Response to Extreme driving) satellite were launched at 10:05 UTC. STMSat 1 (St. Thomas More Satellite 1); Nodes-1 and Nodes-2 (Network & Operation Demonstration Satellite) satellites were launched at 14:40 UTC. All the satellites were delivered to the ISS by the “Cygnus” OA-4 spacecraft in December 2015.

On May 11, 2016 at 18:55 UTC the "Dragon” capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at several hundred kilometers from Long Beach, California, USA. The Dragon delivered to Earth about 1600 kilograms of cargo. It was the "SpaceX CRS-8” mission. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. It was the 8^th flight of Dragon to the ISS with docking.

On May 11, 2016 the station's robotic arm removed the “Dragon” SpX-8 (CRS-8 flight) unmanned supply spacecraft from a berthing port on the Harmony module of the International Space Station. Controlled by ground controllers and then British astronaut Timothy Peake and American astronaut Jeffrey Williams, the robotic arm let go of the "Dragon” resupply vehicle at 13:19 UTC.

On April 16, 2016 at 06:15 UTC the International Space Station’s robotic arm, under the control of engineers on Earth, extracted an experimental inflatable habitat from the trunk of the "Dragon” SpX-8 spacecraft and attached it to the orbiting complex. Berthing to the docking port of the US “Tranquility” module was completed at 09:36 UTC. Made by Bigelow Aerospace private company, the new module will spend two years on the space station to prove the novel design’s worthiness for future commercial orbiting research labs and expeditions to deep space. Unlike the space station’s other modules, which are made of metal alloys, BEAM is made of reinforced fabric designed to be resistant to radiation and bombardment by tiny flecks of space junk and micrometeoroids. The module will be inflated around May 26, expanding to four times its current volume until it reaches the approximate ... Read more »

On April 10, 2016 at 13:57 UTC the private U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft, the "Dragon” SpX-8 (CRS-8 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 British astronaut Timothy Peake at 11:23 UTC. The Dragon spacecraft was maneuvered into position and attached to a berthing port on the space station's Harmony module. The centerpiece of Dragon’s 3.5-ton cargo load is the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, a pathfinder for future inflatable habitats that could form commercial space stations, ferry astronauts to deep space destinations, and even protect explorers on the surface of Mars. The 1,413-kilogram BEAM structure rode to the space station inside the Dragon spacecraft’s unpressurized trunk section. Now in total, six spacecraft ar ... Read more »