News

Long-awaited station spacewalk on tap Friday

Astronauts Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins ventured outside the lab complex Friday for a long-awaited spacewalk to attach a new docking mechanism, the first of two that will be used by U.S. crew ferry ships being built by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to and from the outpost, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Antares Launcher

Station cargo ship delays clear way for needed spacewalk

The Japanese space agency has delayed the planned Sept. 30 launch of an HTV space station cargo ship to repair a leak in the vehicle, clearing the way for Orbital ATK to slip the launch of its Cygnus supply ship from Aug. 22 to the second half of September to complete tests and analysis of its re-engined Antares rocket, officials said Wednesday.

Mission Reports

Soyuz brings three to space station

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft featuring a variety of avionics upgrades and other changes to improve reliability and performance docked with the International Space Station early Saturday after a two-day orbital chase, bringing three fresh crew members to the lab complex.

Mission Reports

Upgraded Soyuz prepped to carry three to space station

A veteran cosmonaut, a former Japanese 767 airline pilot and a NASA astronaut with a Ph.D. in cancer biology are making final preparations for launch July 6 on a two-day flight to the International Space Station. It will be the first flight in an upgraded Soyuz ferry craft with improved, more redundant navigation, communications and computer equipment.

Mission Reports

One last task for doomed cargo ship

With one last task to carry out, a space station Cygnus cargo ship loaded with trash and no-longer-needed equipment fell back to Earth Wednesday, hitting the discernible atmosphere 60 miles or so above the Pacific Ocean at nearly 5 miles per second.