Astronauts

The Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft departing the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft, which landed in Kazakhstan. They spent just over 6 months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on March 18, 2022, as part of Expedition 66.

On Wednesday, September 28, Oleg Artemyev officially handed over the command of the International Space Station to Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, marking the start of Expedition 68.

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft approaching the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago, the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and after a little more than three hours reached the International Space Station with three new crew members on board. It docked with the Station’s Rassvet module. As is becoming increasingly common for crewed trips as well, the ultra-fast track was used which halves the journey duration.

The Shenzhou 14 mission starts blasting off atop a Long March-2F rocket (Photo courtesy Xinhua/Li Gang)

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The confirmation has arrived that three Chinese taikonauts of the Shenzhou 14 mission have reached the Chinese space station’s Tianhe core module with an automated docking maneuver. They blasted off about seven hours earlier atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. They’re the third crew of the Chinese space station and will remain there for about six months, the standard duration for a mission.

The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft splashing down to conclude its Crew-3 mission (Image NASA)

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A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft concluded its Crew-3, or SpaceX Crew-3, mission on behalf of NASA by splashing down without problems. On board were astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer, who reached the International Space Station on November 11, 2021, and were part of Expedition 66 and 67. The four completed the second regular manned mission of SpaceX in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Tampa, Florida. The Crew Dragon departed the Station almost exactly one day ago.

The Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft docking with the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Harmony module completing the first part of its Crew-4 or SpaceX Crew-4 mission that began almost 16 hours earlier with its launch. After checking that the pressure is correctly balanced, the hatch will be opened to allow Robert Hines, Samantha Cristoforetti, Jessica Watkins, and Kjell Lindgren to enter the Station.