Spacecraft

The Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft ends its Polaris Dawn mission splashing down (Image courtesy SpaceX)

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A little while ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft concluded its Polaris Dawn mission splashing down without problems. Onboard were Jared Isaacman, Sarah Gillis, Anna Menon, and Scott Poteet, who finished this completely private space mission in the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly after the splashdown, the SpaceX ship went to retrieve the Crew Dragon and its crew to transport them to the coast.

The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft blasting off atop a Soyuz rocket (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago, the Soyuz MS-26 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 Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft blasting off atop a Falcon 9 rocket (Image courtesy SpaceX)

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A little while ago, the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on the Polaris Dawn mission. After just over twelve minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage. It will spend about five days in orbit on a completely private crewed space mission. For the first time, a spacewalk is planned during a private space mission.

The CST-100 Starliner Calypso spacecraft landing (Image NASA)

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A few hours ago, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Calypso spacecraft landed at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, ending its Boe-CFT (Boeing Crew Flight Test) mission. Unlike the previous American spacecraft, this one doesn’t splash down in the ocean but lands on the ground. It was an automated return trip while Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who had arrived at the International Space Station on June 6 aboard the Calypso, remained on the Station.

The Cygnus cargo spacecraft captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm on NG-21 mission (Image NASA TV)

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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, launched last Sunday, August 4, has just reached the International Space Station and was captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Astronaut Matthew Dominick, assisted by his colleague Jeanette Epps, will soon begin the slow maneuver to move the Cygnus until it docks with the Station’s Unity module after about two hours.

The Cygnus cargo spacecraft arrived on schedule despite some issues with a thruster burn that was scheduled to occur about 45 minutes after separation from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket’s last stage. Initial reports indicated that the onboard computer had canceled the burn due to low pressure within the engine systems. Northrop Grumman engineers were able to compensate for the issue with a new burn schedule after reviewing pressure data and determining that it was still acceptable for the thrusters to work.