The Russian Soyuz MS-03 crew transport spacecraft is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with three passengers on a two-day trek to the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russia’s Oleg Novitskiy and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency will join the station’s existing three-person Expedition 50 crew.
Falcon 9
Dragon cargo capsule reaches space station for second time
A commercial Dragon spacecraft glacially approached the International Space Station on Wednesday, allowing a robotic arm controlled by Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai to reach out and grapple the supply ship as it soared 250 miles over Africa, completing SpaceX’s 14th mission to the research complex, and the second by the same capsule.
Mission Reports
Japanese cargo launch reset for Tuesday after fire
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the prime contractor for Japan’s H-2B rocket, said Friday that engineers concluded a fire on the launch pad during a countdown earlier this month was most likely sparked by static electricity and stimulated by oxygen. The H-2B rocket launch has been rescheduled for Tuesday to start a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Mission Reports
Facing more delays, NASA opens door to launching lunar mission with commercial rockets
In a major shift, NASA is considering using two commercial launchers to send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule and its European-built service module on a test flight around the moon next year, maintaining the lunar test flight’s schedule despite fresh delays in the development of the multibillion-dollar Space Launch System that jeopardize the heavy-lifter’s 2020 inaugural flight, the agency’s administrator said in a congressional hearing Wednesday.