October 2016 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan with U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew

October 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

An on-target touchdown in Kazakhstan punctuated a 115-day space mission for Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, Japanese flight engineer Takuya Onishi and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins this weekend. Photographers recorded the moment with these vivid photos.

Chinese astronauts halfway through country’s longest space mission

October 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

Two Chinese astronauts are busy with medical experiments and other duties as they near the halfway mark of a month-long stay aboard the Tiangong 2 space lab, according to state media reports.

SpaceX hopes procedure fix can allow Falcon 9 launches to resume

October 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

Investigators probing the Sept. 1 explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on its launch pad in Florida believe a high-pressure gas tank inside the launcher’s upper stage most likely burst due to the conditions of the helium loaded into it, a finding that could simplify fixes needed before the commercial booster can return to service.

Video: Crew members extracted from the Soyuz after landing

October 30, 2016 Justin Ray

One-by-one, the three crew members are pulled from the Soyuz MS-01 capsule and placed in reclining chairs minutes after landing in Kazakhstan.

International space crew wraps up nearly four months in orbit

October 30, 2016 William Harwood

A veteran Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese flight engineer and a NASA scientist-astronaut undocked from the International Space Station and returned to Earth Saturday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 115-day mission.

Video: Soyuz MS-01 lands with three-person space crew

October 30, 2016 Justin Ray

The Soyuz MS-01 capsule safely returns to Earth, bringing back Expedition 49 commander Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency after a 115-day mission that spanned 48.6 million miles to the International Space Station.

Video: Soyuz MS-01 leaves the space station for landing

October 30, 2016 Justin Ray

Expedition 49 commander Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency undock from the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-01 capsule for return to Earth.

Live coverage: Space station crew home after 115-day mission

October 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, Japanese flight engineer Takuya Onishi and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins departed the International Space Station on Saturday and headed for a homecoming in Kazakhstan to wrap up a 115-day expedition in orbit. Undocking occurred at 8:35 p.m. EDT Saturday (0035 GMT Sunday), with an on-target landing more than three hours later at 11:58 p.m. EDT (0358 GMT).

Juno recovers from reboot, but propulsion problem lingers

October 28, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will stay in its current long-period orbit around Jupiter until at least February, and perhaps longer, as engineers study balky valves inside the science probe’s propulsion system and an unexpected computer reboot that interrupted key functions of the orbiter earlier this month.

Photos: New U.S. weather observatory buttoned up for launch

October 28, 2016 Justin Ray

United Launch Alliance encapsulated the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R, GOES-R, on Oct. 21 at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida.