Space Stations

The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft approaching the International Space Station in its Crew-5 mission (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft docked with the Harmony module of the International Space Station completing the first part of its Crew-5 or SpaceX Crew-5 mission that began with its launch about 29 hours earlier. After checking that the pressure was properly balanced, the hatch was opened to allow Koichi Wakata, Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, and Anna Kikina to enter the Station.

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 Wentian module blasting off atop a Long March-5B Y3 rocket (Photo courtesy Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

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A confirmation has arrived that the Wentian module has successfully completed its docking maneuvers with the Chinese Tiangong space station’s Tianhe core module. Wentian was launched about 13 hours earlier from the Wenchang base atop a Long March-5B Y3 rocket. A few hours after docking, the taikonauts, as the Chinese call their astronauts, of the Shenzhou-14 mission entered the new module. This is another crucial step in the construction of the Chinese space station.

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.