Tag: ISS
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Soyuz MS-12 return to Earth
Following a brief period as a nine-member crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS), three of its orbital outpost explorers returned home in the early hours of Thursday. Riding onboard Soyuz MS-12 was Alexey Ovchinin and Nick Hague, joined by short-stay spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori. While Hague and Ovchinin completed a 203-day mission, spanning…
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ISS Particle Hunter to receive new life through upcoming spacewalks
For over eight years a small scientific instrument, perched atop of the International Space Station’s S3 truss segment, has been hunting for cosmic particles that have traveled from the furthest reaches of the universe. An upcoming set of spacewalks is set to extend its lifetime. The $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 (AMS-02) launched aboard…
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CRS-18 Dragon completes mission with Pacific Ocean Splashdown
SpaceX’s CRS-18 Dragon spacecraft has concluded her EOM (End Of Mission) milestones, following unberthing from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday. Dragon’s release from the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) occurred at 14:59 UTC, with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean around 20:20 UTC. The CRS-18 Dragon was launched on Falcon 9 B1056.2 last…
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Soyuz MS-14 – finally delivers Skybot humanoid robot to Station at second attempt
In an unusual situation, Roscosmos launched the Soyuz MS-14 crew vehicle without any humans aboard. The move is testing critical upgrades to the Soyuz MS series spacecraft, specifically the vehicle’s abort system interface with the upgraded Soyuz 2.1a rocket which will take over crew launch duties next year. While no humans were aboard, Soyuz MS-14…
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EVA-55 installs second IDA to allow for additional commercial crew vehicle options
The latest spacewalk on the International Space Station (ISS) has completed the huge milestone of adding a second docking port for Commercial Crew vehicles. Expedition 60 Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan worked a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to install International Docking Adapter-3 (IDA-3) to Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 on the space-facing side of the station’s Harmony…
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Cargo Dream Chaser solidifies ULA deal by securing six Vulcan Centaur flights
Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Cargo Dream Chaser has extended its agreement with United Launch Alliance (ULA) from two to six launches during its Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) missions to the International Space Station (ISS). All six missions will launch on ULA’s new rocket, Vulcan Centaur. The move was expected but requirement confirmation given Dream Chaser’s…
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NG-11 Cygnus departs Station for months of on-orbit free-flight tests
After 110 days at the International Space Station, the Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) NG-11 Cygnus resupply vehicle has departed the orbital outpost. But in a significant change from previous missions, Cygnus will not perform a destructive re-entry within the next few weeks, instead remaining on orbit until the end of the year to test…
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CRS-18 Dragon arrives at the ISS following Falcon 9 launch
Following the launch of SpaceX’s 18th Commercial Resupply Services 1 contracted cargo mission, the CRS-18 Dragon has arrived at the International Space Station on behalf of NASA. CRS-18 was scheduled to launch from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, on Thursday, 24 July 2019 in an instantaneous, single second launch window. Dragon…
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Soyuz-FG on penultimate flight delivers three new crewmembers for ISS
For the second time this year, the Russian federal space agency – Roscosmos – launched three new crewmembers to the International Space Station on the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft. Liftoff occurred at 12:28:20 EDT (16:28:20 UTC) on Saturday, 20 July 2019 from Site No. 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The craft docked to the…
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Russia pressing forward on ISS expansion
Russia is working towards the future expansion of its segment of the International Space Station. Although major additions to the United States’ segment have mostly ceased following the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011, Russian segment expansion is set to restart as early as the middle of next year. Russian segment expansion Since…