Space Stations

Blogs about Space Stations

The Shenzhou 23 spacecraft blasting off (Photo courtesy Xinhua/Lian Zhen)

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A confirmation has arrived that three Chinese taikonauts from the Shenzhou 23 mission reached the Chinese space station Tiangong with an automated docking maneuver. They blasted off about 3.5 hours earlier atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Two of them will remain there for about six months, the standard duration for a mission, while the third taikonaut will conduct a one-year mission.

The three taikonauts, as the Chinese call their astronauts, on the Shenzhou 23 mission are Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying. The identities of the crew members are revealed only at the last minute, but Chinese authorities have recently started releasing more information than they did a few years ago.

The Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm in its NG-24 mission (Image NASA)

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Yesterday, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL spacecraft, launched last Saturday, April 11, reached the International Space Station and was captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Astronaut Jack Hathaway, assisted by his colleague Chris Williams, conducted the slow maneuver to move the Cygnus until it docked with the Station’s Unity module after about two hours.

Views of the Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft docking with the International Space Station in its Crew-12 mission (Image NASA+)

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A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft docked with the Harmony module of the International Space Station, completing the first part of its Crew-12 or SpaceX Crew-12 mission that began with its launch about 34 hours earlier. After checking that the pressure gets properly balanced, the hatch will be opened to allow Andrey Fedyaev, Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and Sophie Adenot to enter the Station and start their mission.

The crew of the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft: Chris Williams, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, and Sergey Mikaev (Photo courtesy of GCTC)

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A few hours ago, the Soyuz MS-28 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. The ultra-fast track was used, which halves the journey duration and is used whenever the Station’s position makes it possible.