Live coverage of the Expedition 53 mission on the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Mission Reports
Russian spacewalkers cut into Soyuz spaceship to inspect leak repair
Clad in pressurized spacesuits, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev used knives and scissors to slice through insulation and a debris shield on a Soyuz spaceship set to return to Earth next week, finally reaching the capsule’s metallic hull to examine the site of an air leak plugged in August.
Atlas 5
Atlas 5 launch timeline for Starliner’s Orbital Flight Test
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is set to carry Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule into space on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station. This timeline shows the major mission events planned from liftoff through Starliner’s orbital insertion burn about 31 minutes after launch.
News
Kathy Lueders named NASA chief of human spaceflight
Two weeks after the successful launch of two astronauts to the International Space Station, the director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program has been promoted to chief of the agency’s human spaceflight directorate, a portfolio that includes the Artemis moon program, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Friday.