Space Station

A commercial Cygnus cargo freighter from Northrop Grumman arrived at the International Space Station Monday, delivering more than 8,000 pounds of supplies and a new U.S. capability to reboost the altitude of the complex independent of Russian rocket thrusters.

Two days after launching from Kazakhstan, a Russian Progress cargo freighter docked with the International Space Station on autopilot Thursday with a fresh delivery of food, crew supplies, experiments, and CubeSats that will be released outside the complex on a future spacewalk.

A SpaceX cargo ship splashed down under parachutes in the Gulf of Mexico this week, returning from the International Space Station after a 34-day mission with a spacesuit used for spacewalks, and research specimens for distribution to scientists around the world.

Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov completed a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk Wednesday outside the International Space Station, preparing Russia’s new Prichal module for the arrival of the next Soyuz crew spacecraft in March.

A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule pulled into port at the International Space Station Wednesday, a day after launch from Florida’s Space Coast with 3.2 tons of experiments, holiday gifts, and external instruments developed by NASA and the U.S. military to help improve hurricane forecasts.