International Space Station – Spaceflight Now

Astronauts wrap up spacewalk, accomplishing all primary tasks

October 20, 2017

Staging NASA’s third spacewalk in 15 days, two astronauts floated outside the International Space Station Friday and installed a new high definition camera, replaced a degraded camera on a recently attached robot arm grapple fixture, finished lubricating the mechanism and carried out a variety of other “get-ahead” tasks.

Progress supply ship completes space station delivery

October 16, 2017

A Russian Progress resupply freighter docked with the International Space Station on Monday, delivering fuel, food and supplies to the orbiting research lab’s six-person crew.

Regulatory filings suggest SpaceX plans November launch with mystery payload

October 14, 2017

Information found in federal regulatory filings suggests SpaceX plans to conduct a Falcon 9 rocket launch as soon as mid-November with an unidentified payload that has so far escaped public disclosure.

Progress cargo freighter begins two-day trek to space station

October 14, 2017

A Russian Progress freighter carrying nearly three tons of fuel, cargo and supplies for the International Space Station took off from Kazakhstan Saturday, two days after an uncommon last-minute abort for its Soyuz booster.

Russian resupply launch aborted, curbing express trip to station

October 12, 2017

The launch of a Soyuz rocket with a Progress refueling and resupply freighter was aborted seconds before liftoff Thursday in a rare scrub for Russia’s workhorse rocket, delaying the start of a journey to the International Space Station until at least Saturday and thwarting plans to test out a new automated fast-track rendezvous sequence.

Wallops launch base receives final hardware delivery for next Cygnus mission

October 10, 2017

Orbital ATK shipped the final major piece of hardware for the next Cygnus space station resupply mission to a launch base on Virginia’s Eastern Shore last week as technicians began loading cargo destined for delivery to the orbiting research lab.

Russian Progress supply ship poised for swift trip to space station

October 10, 2017

Russian ground crews are readying a robotic Progress cargo freighter for launch Thursday on an expedited trek to the International Space Station that should take less than three-and-a-half hours from liftoff to docking, cutting in half the normal transit time.

Astronauts stage second spacewalk in five days

October 10, 2017

Five days after work to replace the grapple fitting on one end of the space station’s robot arm, commander Randy Bresnik and flight engineer Mark Vande Hei ventured back outside the lab complex Tuesday to lubricate the new arm mechanism, to replace a degraded camera and to carry out a variety of lower-priority chores.

Spacewalk concludes with successful robot arm repair

October 5, 2017

Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station early Thursday and performed what amounted to hand transplant surgery on the lab’s Canadian-built robot arm, removing a crippled grapple fixture on one end of the space crane and replacing it with an on-board spare.

Station astronauts prep for spacewalk to repair robotic arm

October 5, 2017

Astronauts Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei headed outside the International Space Station Thursday on a spacewalk to replace one end of the lab’s Canadian-built robotic arm, a changeout that engineers say will restore the device to full capability.