Space Station

Three days after a Russian spacewalk, Japanese space station commander Akihiko Hoshide and Frenchman Thomas Pesquet floated outside for their own excursion Sunday, building a support fixture for a roll-out solar array blanket that will be attached later.

Two Russian spacewalkers connected a new laboratory module to the International Space Station’s power grid Friday, routing and plugging in eight cables to tap into electricity generated by NASA’s solar power system.

Closing out a 31-hour flight from a launch pad in Florida, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule autonomously docked with the International Space Station Monday, delivering experiments, supplies, and fresh food to the complex.

A planned spacewalk outside the International Space Station Tuesday was postponed after NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei was diagnosed with a pinched nerve, which NASA described as a “minor medical issue.”

Closing out a 36-hour flight from a launch pad in Virginia, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station Thursday with a host of biomedical experiments, supplies for a 3D printing tech demo, fresh food, and spare parts.

Boeing engineers at Cape Canaveral continue troubleshooting stuck valves in the propulsion system of the company’s Starliner crew capsule in hopes of resolving the problem — and understanding what caused it — in time to take off on an unpiloted test flight before the current launch window closes later this month.