Articles by Stephen Clark

An unpiloted Chinese cargo ship launched and docked with the Tiangong space station Monday, delivering supplies to support the next three-person crew on the complex for six months after their arrival in October.

Four civilian space travelers rode a SpaceX capsule through a blazing re-entry back into Earth’s atmosphere Saturday evening and safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral, completing a historic 71 hours in space as the first privately-funded, non-government crew to fly in orbit.

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying the first all-private, non-government crew to fly in low Earth orbit re-entered the atmosphere and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral at 7:06 p.m. EDT (2306 GMT) Saturday. The return to Earth closed out a three-day mission in space for the Inspiration4 crew.

On their final full day in space Friday, the all-civilian Inspiration4 crew circling Earth inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule chatted with Tom Cruise, rang the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, and downlinked a live video update showing views outside their cupola dome window.

Three Chinese astronauts landed in the remote Gobi Desert of northwestern China Friday, returning to Earth after a three-month mission on the new Tiangong space station, and ending a historic day in spaceflight that set a new record with 14 people in low Earth orbit.

Three Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth in their Shenzhou 12 capsule to conclude a three-month expedition on China’s Tiangong space station. Landing in China’s remote Gobi Desert occurred around 1:34 a.m. EDT (0534 GMT) Friday.

China’s three-man Shenzhou 12 crew floated into their return craft and undocked from the Tiangong space station Wednesday, heading for landing in remote northwestern China to close out a three-month mission, the longest human flight to date in the country’s space program.