Astronauts

Blogs about astronaut activities

The Crew Dragon Grace spacecraft lifts off atop a Falcon 9 rocket to begin the Crew-13 mission (NASA+ image).

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A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Grace spacecraft docked with the Harmony module of the International Space Station, completing the first part of its Crew-13 or SpaceX Crew-13 mission that began with its launch about 8 hours earlier. After checking that the pressure is properly balanced, the hatch will be opened to allow Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney, Joshua Kutryk, and Sergey Teteryatnikov to enter the Station and start their mission.

The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft's capsule surrounded by the support crew (Image NASA+)

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A little while ago, cosmonauts Sergey Kud‑Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev and astronaut Chris Williams returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft, which landed in Kazakhstan. They had reached the International Space Station on November 27, 2025, as part of a normal crew rotation. The capsule landed on its side, an event that can occur due to reentry conditions, but the crew members suffered no injuries.

The Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft approaching the International Space Station (Image NASA+)

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A few hours ago, the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, 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 Prichal module. The ultra-fast track was used, which halves the journey duration and is used whenever the Station’s position makes it possible.

The capsule of the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft after landing (Photo courtesy Xinhua/Lian Zhen)

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A few hours ago, the three Chinese taikonauts of the Shenzhou 22 mission returned to Earth after spending 210 days on the Tiangong space station, where they arrived on October 31, 2025, in the mission that started as Shenzhou 21. The three taikonauts, Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang, had departed the station less than six hours earlier to land at a site called Dongfeng in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

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.