Astronauts

SpaceX's Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft docking to the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Harmony module completing the first part of its Crew-1 or SpaceX Crew-1 mission that began last Sunday with its launch. After checking that the pressure is correctly balanced, the hatch was opened to allow Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and Soichi Noguchi to enter the Station.

The Crew Dragon Resilience starts its Crew-1 mission blasting off atop a Falcon 9 rocket (Photo NASA/Joel Kowsky)

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A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in its Crew-1 o SpaceX Crew-1 mission with Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and Soichi Noguchi on board. After about eleven minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and went en route to carry out its mission. This is the second crewed mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, this time within the normal rotation of the International Space Station crew.

Chris Cassidy, Anatoly Ivanishin e Ivan Vagner (Photo NASA)

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A few hours ago, astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft, that landed in Kazakhstan. The three of them spent a bit more than 6 months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on April 9, 2020 as part of Expedition 62. After landing, they were assisted by a skeleton crew with the precautions needed to avoid the risk of Covid-19 infection.

The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft docking with the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and after a little more than three hours reached the International Space Station with three astronauts on board: Kate Rubins, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov. For the first time, the ultra-fast route was used which halves the journey duration. In the period preceding a launch, it’s normal for astronauts and cosmonauts to remain in quarantine. In this case it was also extended to the personnel who managed the launch, with limits to the people who could have been in Baikonur.

The Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft after splashdown (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft ended its SpX-DM2 (SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2) or SpaceX Demo-2 mission on behalf of NASA by landing without problems. On board were American astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who finished SpaceX’s first crewed mission in the Atlantic Ocean off Pensacola, Florida. The Crew Dragon left the International Space Station almost a day earlier. Shortly after splashing down, the SpaceX ship called “Go Navigator” went to retrieve the Crew Dragon and its crew to transport them to the coast.