Human Spaceflight – Spaceflight Now

Progress cargo freighter docks with International Space Station

June 16, 2017

A Russian Progress supply ship sailed to an automated docking Friday with the International Space Station two days after departing the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, delivering approximately three tons of fuel, spare parts and water to the orbiting outpost and its three-person crew.

NASA unveils new class of 12 astronauts

June 7, 2017

NASA has picked 12 engineers, scientists and pilots to begin basic training for future spaceflight assignments from more than 18,300 applicants, adding U.S. military combat veterans, two medical doctors, an MIT professor, an expert on submersibles, a SpaceX launch engineer, a field biologist and a planetary geologist to the agency’s astronaut ranks.

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

June 2, 2017

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

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

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).

Astronauts replace failed computer in short spacewalk

May 23, 2017

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.

NASA rules out crew on first SLS flight

May 12, 2017

NASA managers have ruled out putting a crew on board an Orion capsule atop the agency’s huge Space Launch System rocket for the gargantuan booster’s maiden flight in 2019, citing technical risks and higher costs, up to as much as $900 million, agency officials said Friday.

Astronauts complete shortened spacewalk outside International Space Station

May 12, 2017

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.

China’s space station plan bolstered by year of successes

April 29, 2017

A series of achievements in China’s space program over the last 12 months have set the stage to start construction of the country’s first space station in 2019, a year later than previously scheduled, officials said Friday.

NASA confirms first flight of Space Launch System will slip to 2019

April 28, 2017

NASA’s top human spaceflight official says the maiden flight of the Space Launch System, a behemoth booster designed to loft astronauts on expeditions into deep space, will be delayed from November 2018 until some time in 2019, according to a report published by a U.S. government watchdog Thursday.