Massimo Luciani

The Biomass satellite blasting off atop a Vega-C rocket (Image courtesy Arianespace)

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A little while ago, the Biomass satellite was launched atop a Vega-C rocket from the Kourou base in French Guiana. After about 58 minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and set off on a course that will take it to its Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 666 kilometres, where it will study the biomass of forests around the world. This work will help us better understand the global carbon cycle and forest ecosystems.

The Shenzhou 20 spacecraft blasting off (Photo courtesy Xinhua/Li Xin)

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A confirmation has arrived that three Chinese taikonauts from the Shenzhou 20 mission reached the Chinese space station Tiangong with an automated docking maneuver. They blasted off about 6.5 hours earlier atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. They form the 9th crew of the Chinese space station and will remain there for about six months, the standard duration for a mission.

The Dragon 2 cargo spacecraft blasting off atop a Falcon 9 in its CRS-32 mission (Image NASA+)

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A little while ago, the SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in its CRS-32 (Cargo Resupply Service 32) mission, also referred to as SPX-32. After almost 10 minutes, it separated successfully from the rocket’s last stage and went en route. This is the 32nd mission for the Dragon/Dragon 2 spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station with various cargoes and then return to Earth, again with various cargoes.

Alexey Ovchinin, Don Pettit and Ivan Vagner enter the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft (Image NASA+)

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A few hours ago, cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner and astronaut Don Pettit returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft, which landed in Kazakhstan. They had reached the International Space Station on September 11, 2024, as part of a crew rotation that has returned to normal after some time.

On Friday, April 18, Alexey Ovchinin officially handed over command of the International Space Station to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. The launch of the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft marked the start of Expedition 73.