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Main » Manned Space Flights.
 SpaceX commercial supply spacecraft launched to space station.
On October 8, 2012 at 00:35 UTC (October 7 at 8:35 p.m. EDT) the "Dragon” (CRS 1) unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from the Cape Canaveral US Air Force Station in Florida. The launch was performed by the "SpaceX” private company supported by NASA specialists and the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. The "Dragon” was orbited by the "Falcon-9” rocket-carrier.
It is the first commercial flight of a Dragon unmanned supply spacecraft to the ISS of 12 contracted flights by SpaceX to resupply the space station and marks the second trip by a Dragon to the station, following a successful demonstration mission in May 2012.
The capsule is packed with about 450 kg of cargo, including experiment hardware, a freezer, spare parts, clothing and food. Taking advantage of the freezer, ice cream was included, a rare treat for space crews. It is also carrying 23 microgravity experiments designe
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Five microsatellites launch from ISS.
On October 05, 2012 five micro satellites were launched from the board of the International Space Station.
The satellites, small enough to be held in the palm of the hand, were transported to the space station by the Japanese "Kounotori 3” unmanned supply spacecraft in July 2012.
Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and other astronauts conducted the first-ever operation to launch the satellites using a robotic arm. They finished the task at 15:44 UTC.
3 (WE-WISH; RAIKO and FITSAT-1) of the 5 satellites were developed by Japanese companies and universities. The Fukuoka Institute of Technology made a satellite which uses light-emitting diodes to send messages in Morse code to earth. The 2 other satellites (TechEdSat and NanoRacks) are belonged to NASA.
The satellites will orbit earth for about 100 days and eventually disintegrate when entering the atmosphere.
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ATV-3 spacecraft is deorbited into Pacific.
On October 03, 2012 the European ATV-3 unmanned supply spacecraft was successfully de-orbited and sunk in the Pacific. The Automated Transfer Vehicle, nicknamed Edoardo Amaldi after a pioneering Italian physicist, plunged into the atmosphere after two rocket burns slowed the craft's velocity enough to fall from orbit.
Debris from the ATV-3 fell into a predefined zone in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Chile at about 01:30 UTC.
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Russian Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft landed safely in Kazakhstan.
On September 17, 2012 at 02:52 UTC the Soyuz TMA-04M landing capsule landed safely at a distance of 86 kilometers to North-East from the city of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. 
The spacecraft delivered to Earth the 3 members of ISS’s Expedition 32 – Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin as well as American astronaut Joseph Acaba.
They spent in space 124 days, 23 hours, 51 minutes and 30 seconds.
Three other ISS crew members – Russian cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko, American astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide - remained in orbit aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 33 crew.
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Russian Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft undocked from the ISS.
On September 17, 2012 at 03:09 Moscow time (Sept. 16 at 23:09 UTC) the Russian Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station to deliver to Earth the 3 members of Expedition 32 – Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin as well as American astronaut Joseph Acaba.
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Japanese HTV-3 spacecraft deorbited.
On September 14, 2012 at 05:26 UTC the Japanese HTV-3 unmanned supply spacecraft was deorbited.
The spacecraft was expected to break apart and burn up from the heat of re-entry, and any leftover debris fell into a predetermined zone in the southern Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Chile.
The re-entry marked the end of a 55-day mission for the disposable cargo craft, which lifted off July 21 from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. It was attached to the International Space Station for 47 days.
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The Japanese “Kountori 3” spacecraft left the ISS.
On September 12, 2012 the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), Kountori 3 left the International Space Station.
Using the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), Kountori 3 (HTV3) was moved to the releasing point below the station and released from the SSRMS at 15:50 UTC.
After the release, the unmanned supply spacecraft performed separation maneuvers to depart from the ISS proximity. The Kountori 3 is scheduled to reenter the atmosphere on September 14.
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U.S. and Japanese Astronauts performed the 2nd spacewalk.
On September 5, 2012 astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide performed their second spacewalk. They completed the installation of a Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) that was hampered last week by a possible misalignment and damaged threads where a bolt must be placed. They also installed a camera on the International Space Station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2.
The spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 28 minutes.
The MBSU is a heavy component that is used to relay power from the station’s solar arrays to its systems.
Sunita Williams surpassed Peggy Whitson during the September 5 excursion for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut. Whitson worked outside for 39 hours and 46 minutes over the course of six spacewalks. Williams has conducted six spacewalks for a total of 44 hours and 2 minutes.
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U.S. and Japanese Astronauts performed a spacewalk.
On August 30, 2012 U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide performed almost a record long spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS), NASA reported. The spacewalkers spent 8 hours and 17 minutes in the outer space doing maintenance work on the ISS. The longest spacewalk of 8 hours and 56 minutes was made by U.S. astronauts Susan Helms and James Voss in 2001. Williams and Hoshide, however, failed to fulfill their task of installing a new Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) on the International Space Station’s s-zero truss as they had difficulties driving the bolts to secure the equipment.
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Russian cosmonauts performed a spacewalk.
On August 20, 2012 Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Yury Malenchenko completed a five hour and 50 minute spacewalk having carried out all planned maintenance tasks on the International Space Station (ISS).
The cosmonauts moved the "Strela-2” cargo boom from the "Pirs” docking compartment to the "Zarya” module and installed micrometeoroid debris shields on the exterior of the "Zvezda” service module.
They also launched the "Sphere” microsatellite and collected a number of bio specimens from the surface of a docking module as part of the "Biorisk” scientific experiment.
The unique Biorisk experiment studies the impact of vacuum, subzero and hot temperatures and radiation on biological objects. It is impossible to simulate these processes on Earth.
Both Padalka and Malenchenko are veteran cosmonauts with a lot of exp
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