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.
Falcon 9
Fire returns to flame trench at Apollo-era launch pad in Florida
Nine Merlin engines ignited and throttled up to nearly 2 million pounds of thrust Sunday during a brief hold-down firing of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, sending a plume of smoke out of the flame trench at Kennedy Space Center’s historic launch pad 39A as the company preps for a space station cargo mission next weekend.
Members
Q&A with Mark Mulqueen, Boeing’s space station program manager
The International Space Station’s oldest sections launched nearly 17 years ago, and with the huge orbiting research complex now well into its operational life as a microgravity science lab, prime contractor Boeing’s job is keeping the outpost going, according to Mark Mulqueen, who manages the aerospace company’s space station program.
Falcon 9
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon ready for first test flight
SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon spacecraft, fixed to the forward end of a Falcon 9 rocket, emerged Thursday from the company’s hangar at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the quarter-mile journey to its launch mount at pad 39A, where liftoff is scheduled early Saturday on a critical test flight before astronauts strap into the ship later this year.