Human Spaceflight – Page 59

Former astronaut Bruce McCandless dies

December 22, 2017 William Harwood

Former astronaut Bruce McCandless II, a retired Navy captain and son of a Medal of Honor winner who joined NASA during the buildup to the Apollo program, served as capsule communicator when Neil Armstrong took his historic first step on the moon and later flew in space twice during the shuttle program, died Thursday. He was 80.

Soyuz with three-man crew docks with space station

December 19, 2017 William Harwood

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian commander, a NASA flight engineer and a Japanese physician-astronaut docked with the International Space Station early Tuesday, capping a smooth two-day rendezvous to boost the lab’s crew back to six.

Soyuz blasts off on two-day flight to space station

December 17, 2017 William Harwood

While a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship closed in on the International Space Station early Sunday, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off from frigid Kazakhstan, boosting a fresh three-man crew into orbit for a two-day flight to the lab complex.

Live coverage: Fresh crew docks at space station

December 16, 2017 Stephen Clark

Russian commander Anton Shkaplerov, NASA flight engineer Scott Tingle and Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai docked with the International Space Station Tuesday at 3:39 a.m. EST (0839 GMT), two days after blastoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Soyuz carries three station crew members back to Earth

December 14, 2017 William Harwood

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three space station crew members hurtled back to Earth Thursday, completing a fiery plunge back through the atmosphere before settling to a frigid touchdown on the snowy steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 139-day mission.

Recent snapshots from the International Space Station

December 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

Recent photos from the International Space Station’s Expedition 53 crew show wildfires burning in Southern California, expansive views of the Himalayas, cities by night and day, and colorful vistas of sites around the world.

Live coverage: Space station crew back on Earth

December 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

Outgoing space station commander Randy Bresnik, joined by Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy and European Space Agency flight engineer Paolo Nespoli, returned to Earth early Thursday after nearly five months in orbit. Their Soyuz MS-05 capsule undocked from the International Space Station at 12:14 a.m. EST (0514 GMT), and landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan at 3:37 a.m. EST (0837 GMT).

Space station crew returns Thursday, replacements launch Sunday

December 13, 2017 William Harwood

In a rapid-fire crew rotation, a Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut and an Italian flier plan to close out a 139-day mission aboard the International Space Station with a fiery plunge back to the frigid steppe of Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft early Thursday.

President Trump makes moon missions NASA’s near-term goal

December 11, 2017 William Harwood

In a brief White House ceremony Monday, President Trump formally directed NASA to set its sights on sending astronauts back to the moon followed by eventual flights to Mars as part of a new national space policy intended to make sure America “once again leads and inspires all of humanity” on the high frontier.

Cygnus cargo craft released from space station, setting up for CubeSat deployments

December 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

An Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo craft departed the International Space Station on Wednesday, heading for a higher orbit to deploy 14 CubeSats and an eventual de-orbit burn to dispose of more than 6,200 pounds of trash and other unneeded equipment packed by the station’s crew.