A little while ago, cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, which landed in Kazakhstan. Kononenko and Chub completed a one-year mission on the International Space Station while Caldwell-Dyson spent almost exactly 6 months on the Station.
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.
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.
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.
A little while ago, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft blasted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on its NG-21 or CRS NG-21 mission. After about 15 minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and set on its course. This is the second of at least three resupply missions to the International Space Station with various payloads launched using the Falcon 9 rocket while waiting for the new version of Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket to be ready.
