On December 15, 2015 at 17:33 UTC the "Soyuz TMA-19M” spacecraft docked with the Russian "Rassvet” (MIM-1) module of the International Space Station. Due to a malfunction in automatic docking mode, the docking was performed manually by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Commander of the "Soyuz TMA-19M”. The spacecraft delivered three new members of Expedition 46 to the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, American astronaut Timothy Kopra and British astronaut Timothy Peake. The new comers joined current ISS expedition members – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko as well as American astronaut Scott Kelly to form Expedition 46 crew of 6 members.

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On December 15, 2015 at 11:03 UTC the Russian “Soyuz TMA-19M” 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 Yuri Malenchenko (center); flight-engineer-1, American astronaut Timothy Kopra (right); flight-engineer-2, British astronaut Timothy Peake (left).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station in several hours after lift off. Malenchenko, Kopra and Peake will join current ISS expedition members V ... Read more »

On December 11, 2015 at 13:18 UTC the Russian “Soyuz TMA-17M” landing capsule landed safely in a distance of 121 kilometers north-east from the city of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 3 members of ISS’s Expedition 45 – Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui (油井 亀美也) and American astronaut Kjell Lindgren. They spent in space 142 days. Three other ISS crew members – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko as well as American astronaut Scott Kelly remained in orbit aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 46 crew. The undocking of Soyuz TMA-17M marked the end of Expedition 45 and the start of Expedition 46. ... Read more »

On December 11, 2015 at 13:18 UTC the Russian “Soyuz TMA-17M” landing capsule landed safely in a distance of 121 kilometers north-east from the city of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 3 members of ISS’s Expedition 45 – Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui (油井 亀美也) and American astronaut Kjell Lindgren. They spent in space 142 days. Three other ISS crew members – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko as well as American astronaut Scott Kelly remained in orbit aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 46 crew. The undocking of Soyuz TMA-17M marked the end of Expedition 45 and the start of Expedition 46.

On December 11, 2015 at 09:49 UTC  the Russian “Soyuz TMA-17M” spacecraft undocked from the Russian "Rassvet” (MIM-1) module of the International Space Station to deliver to Earth the 3 members of Expedition 45 – Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui (油井 亀美也) and American astronaut Kjell Lindgren.

On December 09, 2015 the American "Cygnus” (CRS OA-4, “Deke Slayton II”) private unmanned supply spacecraft was docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The Cygnus spacecraft was grappled by a robotic arm operated by astronauts inside the space station at 11:19 UTC. The cargo spacecraft was docked to the station’s "Unity” module at 14:26 UTC. The spacecraft delivered 3200 kilograms of supplies to the Space Station. It was the 4^th docking of a "Cygnus” spacecraft with the ISS.

On December 06, 2015 at 21:44 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 spacecraft was orbited by the “Atlas V” rocket-carrier. The "Cygnus” (CRS OA-4, “Deke Slayton II”) unmanned supply spacecraft, built by U.S. space firm Orbital Sciences Corp., was orbited by the “Atlas V” rocket-carrier on its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. Bound for the International Space Station, the launch was the first Cygnus flight since last October’s failure, and the first mission for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program since the loss of a SpaceX Dragon resupply mission in June. The "Cygnus” (CR ... Read more »

On November 6, 2015 American astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren performed the spacewalk for routing ammonia coolant back to the prime radiator used by one of the lab’s solar arrays and bypassing a secondary radiator that was activated three years ago to help pinpoint a coolant leak. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 48 minutes.

On October 28, 2015 American astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren performed the spacewalk for installing cables needed for a new docking mechanism, mounting insulation panels on a physics experiment to improve cooling and lubricating the latching mechanism of the station’s robot arm. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 16 minutes. This was the first spacewalk for both Kelly and Lindgren.

In the period from October 5 till October 7, 2015 twelve micro satellites were launched from the International Space Station. On October 05, 2015 at 14:05 UTC two Danish satellites the GOMX-3 and the AAUSAT-5 were launched. On October 06, 2015 at 01:15 UTC the “Flock-2b.1” and “Flock-2b.2” CubeSat satellites were launched. On October 06, 2015 at 04:30 UTC the “Flock-2b.3” and “Flock-2b.4” CubeSat satellites were launched. On October 06, 2015 at 08:31 UTC the “Flock-2b.5” and “Flock-2b.6” CubeSat satellites were launched. On October 06, 2015 at 11:45 UTC the “Flock-2b.7” and “Flock-2b.8” CubeSat satellites were launched. On October 07, 2015 at 00:10 UTC the “Flock-2b.9” and “Flock-2b.10” CubeSat satellites were launched. All twelve micro satellites were delivered to the ISS by the 5th Japan Aerosp ... Read more »