Mission Reports

Two Chinese rocket launches hours apart Friday successfully deployed a radio and TV broadcasting spacecraft and an atmospheric environmental monitoring satellite.

Two Russian cosmonauts put on their Orlan spacesuits and headed outside the International Space Station Monday for a spacewalk to begin outfitting a European robotic arm mounted on a Russian science module launched last year, a collaboration that’s been unaffected by souring international relations on Earth.

NASA will move the Space Launch System moon rocket back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center to replace a failed valve and fix a hydrogen leak found during tests at the launch pad, the agency announced late Saturday.

Three Chinese astronauts flew back to Earth late Friday to wrap up a 182-day mission on China’s space station, the longest crew mission in the history of the country’s space program. The landing sets the stage for launch of a new crew and expansion of the Chinese space station later this year.

Three Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth after six months on the country’s orbiting space station. The crew landed in northwestern China aboard the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft at approximately 9:57 p.m. EDT Friday (0157 GMT Saturday).

Three Chinese astronauts packed up, boarded their landing capsule, and undocked from China’s space station Friday in preparation for a return to Earth after six months in orbit.