International Space Station

Last Friday morning a fresh crew of two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut lifted off from Kazakhstan and arrived at the International Space Station. While relieving three crew members on the station, it also marks the start of another year long stint in space for Russia.

Today Axiom Space announced who will be flying to the ISS early next year on the third private astronaut mission. This mission will feature a return Axiom astronaut as well as an all European crew.

Early Saturday morning a crew of four astronauts from around the globe lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 for a six-month stay on the International Space Station. The crew is currently in transit to the ISS, and expecting to arrive Sunday morning.

Over the course of the past six months, Crew-6 has delivered an abundance of breathtaking images from the International Space Station. These views of Earth give the rest of the population the ability to see our planet from unprecedented views.

The four members of the Crew-7 mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center and are in the final quarantine phase before starting their journey to the International Space Station. Launch week has begun with several events taking place as we get ready to see Crew-7 liftoff.

While we await the launch of SpaceX’s Crew-7 mission, NASA has announced the crew members who will be part of the next rotation to the ISS, known as SpaceX Crew-8.

Northrop Grumman recently completed the final launch of its Cygnus spacecraft on the Antares rocket, marking a temporary hiatus until they return in a few years with an upgraded rocket and Cygnus spacecraft, as announced by the company.

Yesterday evening, Northrop Grumman successfully launched its final Antares 220+ rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia. The NG-19 mission carried Northrop’s Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station, transporting essential supplies such as food, experiments, and other cargo for the crew.

Next month, SpaceX is set to launch its seventh rotation of crew members to the International Space Station for NASA. The upcoming Crew-7 mission is notable for being the most diverse crew to fly on a Dragon spacecraft, with all four members hailing from different nations and agencies – a first for SpaceX.

Houston-based Axiom Space has been granted a significant task order by NASA to modify its Artemis 3 lunar spacesuit design for International Space Station’s spacewalking capabilities.

Friday, NASA astronauts on the ISS completed a six-hour spacewalk to install and deploy one of the two new solar panels brought up on the most recent commercial cargo mission. This brings the total to five new iROSA solar panels on the ISS.

Sunday afternoon, the second private mission by Axiom to the International Space Station lifted off from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. This marked the first spaceflight of a Saudi female astronaut, the return to space of commander Peggy Whitson, and the start of RTLS landings for crewed Falcon 9 flights.

SpaceX is set to launch its second crewed mission for Axiom Space tomorrow afternoon on a Falcon 9 rocket. This mission will feature a unique Return To Landing Site landing at LZ-1 for the first stage, a first for a crewed mission.

Ten years ago today, Astronaut Chris Hadfield released a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” entirely filmed aboard the International Space Station. He released the song the same day he relinquished command of the International Space Station, and he returned to Earth in a Soyuz capsule the following day.

Well, I didn’t expect to see Zune come across the news desk this week. I could probably leave you with the headline, and most of you would be surprised to see the name but not shocked the failed MP3 player can only be used as a PR stunt now.

Anyways, what is the Zune doing in space? Well, there’s both a fictional and non-fictional part to this story.

The International Space Station, a feat of world cooperation, is set to live for a few more years with all its partners agreeing to extend their partnership with NASA. While the world looks to the commercial sector for a successor, the public sector will continue to fund its station until at least 2028.

It looked like Boeing would have a fantastic April with the launch of its first crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft. However, now it seems like we’re going to have to wait until July before we see this milestone launch from the company to the International Space Station.

Hot on the heels of the splashdown of the Crew-5 mission, SpaceX launched the uncrewed CRS-27 Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station.

Liftoff atop a Falcon 9 rocket came at 8:30 p.m. EDT March 14, 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The autonomous spacecraft is set to dock to the ISS about a day later to deliver some 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of supplies to the seven-person Expedition 68 crew living aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The Falcon 9 first stage that flew in support of this mission, B1073, successfully landed on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” less than 10 minutes after launch, which was positioned downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the seventh recovery for this booster.

Overall, this was SpaceX’s 17th launch of 2023 — the 16th for a Falcon 9 rocket. The company plans to fly as many as 100 missions this year.

SpaceX is set to deliver thousands of pounds of hardware and science experiments to the International Space Station as part of the uncrewed CRS-27 Dragon resupply mission.

Liftoff atop a Falcon 9 rocket is slated for 8:25 p.m. EDT March 14 (12:25 UTC March 15), 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will be the 27th resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory under the company’s Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.