Cygnus inbound for ISS

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Cygnus inbound for ISS

Orbital ATK launched their OA-5 Cygnus cargo ship, named the S.S. Alan Poindexter, on the return-to-flight of the company's Antares rocket. The vehicle lifted off at 7:45 p.m. EDT (11:45 GMT) Oct. 18 out of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Launch Pad 0A in Virginia.

This was the seventh planned launch of a Cygnus spacecraft and, once it arrives at the International Space Station, will be the sixth to dock with the outpost. Two years ago, the Orb-3 Cygnus was lost when the Antares rocket carrying it into orbit failed seconds after liftoff.

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Progress freighter undocks from International Space Station

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Progress freighter undocks from International Space Station

After six months docked to the aft port of the Zvezda module of the International Space Station, the unpiloted Russian Progress MS-02 cargo ship left the outpost. A couple hours later, it was commanded to burn up over the Pacific Ocean.

Undocking occurred at 5:37 a.m. EDT (09:37 GMT) Oct. 14. Loaded springs initially pushed Progress away from ISS. The two passively separated for about 3 minutes. Once the craft was about 20 meters away from the orbiting outpost, a departure burn was initiated to increase the distance from ISS ahead of the deorbit burn.

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Soyuz MS-02 launch date announced; Russian crew size to reduce in 2017

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Soyuz MS-02 launch date announced; Russian crew size to reduce in 2017

After discovering a short circuit during pre-launch tests, Soyuz MS-02 was delayed from its Sept. 23 liftoff date. It has since been scheduled for no earlier than Nov. 1, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

As such, other Russian flights to and from the International Space Station will have to be moved around to accommodate this slip.

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Soyuz MS-02 launch delayed for technical reasons

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Soyuz MS-02 launch delayed for technical reasons

The next crewed flight to the International Space Station, Soyuz MS-02, has been postponed “for technical reasons after tests at the Baikonur Space Center,” according to the Roscosmos State Corporation.

The flight was scheduled for a Sept. 23 launch and subsequent two-day rendezvous with the orbital outpost.

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Orbital Velocity Space Bytes

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Orbital Velocity Space Bytes

In addition to blog posts and original content about the various vehicles that visit the International Space Station, throughout the next few months, Orbital Velocity will be creating small 1- to 5-minute long videos about various topics – called Space Bytes.

In this case, the Russian Soyuz crew capsule is discussed. The video can be found on this blog post, our YouTube channel, as well as the Soyuz page in the menu at the top of the page.

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Soyuz trio blaze through atmosphere to land in Kazakhstan

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Soyuz trio blaze through atmosphere to land in Kazakhstan

After orbiting Earth for 172 days, three members the International Space Station’s Expedition 48 crew undocked their Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft from the outpost and barreled through the atmosphere a couple hours later to land on the Steppe of Kazakhstan.

The official landing time was 09:13 EDT Sept. 6 (01:13 GMT Sept. 7) southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Russian search and recovery teams circling the area in helicopters then landed near the capsule to help NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Aleksey Ovchinin out of the Soyuz after their nearly six-month stay in at the orbiting laboratory.

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An update on SpaceX and CRS-10

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An update on SpaceX and CRS-10

The Sept. 1 launch pad explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which destroyed the Amos-6 satellite perched atop, will likely affect the currently planned November 2016 launch of a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The mission, CRS-10, was tentatively scheduled for a Nov. 11 launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. However, in addition to an investigation that could take months, repairs must also be made to SLC-40.

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SpaceX: launching, landing and berthing into history

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SpaceX: launching, landing and berthing into history

Over the last few days, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket, delivered a Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station and, as a bonus, successfully landed the first stage of the booster on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean. It's safe to say that this was one of the best weeks in the NewSpace company's history.

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