Spacecraft
50 years ago the first human Moon landing
On July 20, 1969, NASA’s Apollo 11 mission’s lunar module Eagle, started on July 16, accomplished the first Moon landing of a manned spacecraft. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin participated in the landing and spent just over two hours on the surface of the Moon to collect some samples that were brought back to Earth. Once they departed the Moon, the two astronauts rejoined Michael Collins, who remained in orbit in the command module Columbia and returned to Earth on July 24th.
The return of three astronauts from the International Space Station marks the end of Expedition 59
A few hours ago astronauts Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft, that landed without problems in Kazakhstan. The three of them spent a bit more than 6 months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on December 3, 2018 as part of Expedition 58.
Mission CRS-17 accomplished: the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has come back to Earth
A few hours ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-17 (Cargo Resupply Service 17) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly in the Pacific Ocean a little more than 325 kilometers (about 202 miles) off the coast of California. The Dragon left the International Space Station a few hours earlier.
Shortly after landing, SpaceX boats went to retrieve the Dragon to transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA soon, probably tomorrow. The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on May 6, 2019.
Mission CRS-17: the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has reached the International Space Station
A little while ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft was captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm on the International Space Station. David Saint-Jacques, assisted by his colleague Nick Hague, managed the operation then started moving the Dragon to the berthing point at the Harmony module. The cargo spacecraft blasted off last Saturday.
