Expedition 51 – Spaceflight Now

Video: Replay of Soyuz MS-03 crew landing in Kazakhstan

June 2, 2017 Stephen Clark

Watch a replay of the landing of Oleg Novitskiy and Thomas Pesquet inside the Soyuz MS-03 crew capsule on the Kazakh stepped Friday, ending their six-and-a-half month expedition on the International Space Station.

Soyuz with two-man crew lands safely in Kazakhstan

June 2, 2017 William Harwood

Leaving crewmate Peggy Whitson behind in orbit for an extended mission, a Russian cosmonaut and his French co-pilot undocked from the International Space Station early Friday and plunged back to Earth, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 196-day mission.

Live coverage: Two-man crew departs space station, returns home

June 2, 2017 Stephen Clark

Two crewmen returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Friday, riding a Russian Soyuz spaceship to a parachute-assisted, rocket-cushioned landing in Kazakhstan to close out more than 196 days in orbit. Oleg Novitskiy and Thomas Pesquet undocked from the station at 1047 GMT (6:47 a.m. EDT) and landed in Kazakhstan at 1410 GMT (10:10 a.m. EDT).

Live coverage: SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule arrives at space station

June 1, 2017 Stephen Clark

Two days after blasting off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, SpaceX’s refurbished Dragon supply ship arrived at the International Space Station on Monday with nearly 6,000 pounds of experiments and equipment. Grapple of Dragon by the station’s robot arm occurred at 9:52 a.m. EDT (1352 GMT).

Refurbished SpaceX supply ship ready for liftoff Thursday

May 31, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX will go for another first Thursday, this time flying a refurbished Dragon supply ship carrying nearly 6,000 pounds of cargo and experiments to the International Space Station nearly three years after its first mission.

Astronauts replace failed computer in short spacewalk

May 23, 2017 William Harwood

After a bit of a struggle with a balky bolt, space station commander Peggy Whitson replaced a failed external computer during a short, hurriedly planned spacewalk Tuesday while crewmate Jack Fischer installed a pair of antennas to improve wireless communications during future excursions.

Hurriedly planned ‘contingency’ spacewalk on tap Tuesday

May 22, 2017 William Harwood

Space station commander Peggy Whitson and astronaut Jack Fischer are set for a two-and-a-half hour spacewalk Tuesday, a quickly-planned excursion to replace a recently installed external computer that failed Saturday.

Astronauts complete shortened spacewalk outside International Space Station

May 12, 2017 Stephen Clark

Astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer put on spacesuits Friday and headed outside the International Space Station for several repair and maintenance tasks, but the duo only completed part of their originally planned work after a leaky cooling umbilical delayed the start of their spacewalk.

President Trump calls International Space Station

April 24, 2017 William Harwood

President Trump called the International Space Station Monday for a videochat watched by thousands of school kids, congratulating commander Peggy Whitson on becoming America’s most experienced astronaut and jokingly promising to get Americans to Mars “during my first term or, at worst, during my second term.”

Video: Trump call to station

April 24, 2017 Justin Ray

Donald Trump calls the International Space Station from the Oval Office, offering congratulations to Expedition 51 commander Peggy Whitson on breaking the U.S. astronaut endurance record.