Space Stations

SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked with the Harmony module of the International Space Station completing the first part of its Crew-6 or SpaceX Crew-6 mission that began with its launch a little more than 24 hours earlier. After checking that the pressure was properly balanced, the hatch was opened to allow Andrey Fedyaev, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg, and Sultan Alneyadi to enter the Station and start their mission, which will last about six months.

The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft approaching the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station. It blasted off on Friday, February 24, with the aim to replace the Soyuz MS-22, which use in safety conditions was made impossible by a failure in its cooling system. Now the mission of Dmitri Petelin, Frank Rubio, and Sergey Prokopyev could be extended for a total duration of about a year using the Soyuz MS-23 to enable them to come back to Earth.

The Shenzhou 15 mission blasting off (Photo courtesy (Xinhua/Li Gang)

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A confirmation has arrived that three Chinese taikonauts from the Shenzhou 15 mission reached the Chinese space station Tiangong with an automated docking maneuver. They blasted off about seven hours earlier on a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. They form the fourth 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 approaching the International Space Station in its CRS-26 mission (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, SpaceX’s Dragon 2 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station’s Harmony module completing the first leg of its mission. It blasted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in its CRS-26 (Cargo Resupply Service 26) mission, also referred to as SpX-2, on Saturday, when it was the afternoon in the USA. Astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann monitored the operation but the cargo spacecraft completed the maneuvers in an automated way without any problems.