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NASA and Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, are investigating the cause of a punctured coolant line on an external radiator of Russia's Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which is supposed to return its crew of two cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut to Earth early next year. But the Dec. 14 leak, which emptied the Soyuz of a vital fluid used to regulate crew cabin temperatures, has derailed Russia's space station routines, with engineers in Moscow examining whether to launch another Soyuz to retrieve the three-man team that flew to ISS aboard the crippled MS-22 craft. It was unclear what NASA specifically asked of...

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is scheduled to launch with crewmates Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin Sept. 21 for a six-month mission on the International Space Station NASA will provide live coverage of key events as a NASA astronaut and two cosmonauts launch and dock to the International Space Station on Wednesday, Sept. 21. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin will launch aboard the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:54 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 21 (6:54 p.m. Baikonur time). Coverage will begin at 9 a.m. on NASA Television’s...

Cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins were also aboard the spaceship. Ryzhikov, a 46-year-old former Russian Air Force fighter pilot, flew the Soyuz spacecraft away from the Rassvet module. After backing away to a distance of about 130 feet (40 meters), Ryzhikov performed a flyaround maneuver around the rear side of the space station to reach a position above the complex around. The commander then guided the Soyuz spacecraft to a manual docking with the Poisk module on the upper part, or space-facing side, of the space station’s Russian segment. Docking occurred at for 1:12 p.m. EDT (1712...

It wasn’t the original plan for the pallet to be discarded like this. The failed launch of a Soyuz rocket in 2018, in which NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin were forced to make an emergency landing in the Kazakh steppe, caused a disruption to the spacewalking schedule, leading to the leftover pallet. NASA’s spacewalk on February 1, 2021, involving astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover, was notable in that it concluded a four-year effort to upgrade the space station’s batteries. These batteries store energy collected by solar arrays, but in 2011 NASA decided to make the...

The Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan on 6 February 2020, at 09:12 UTC (15:12 local time), with NASA astronaut Christina Koch, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos. Christina Koch’s 328-day-long mission is the longest single spaceflight in history by a woman and the second-longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

Amid reports that the Russians will keep the cause of an air leak discovered at the International Space Station in 2018 secret, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has promised to speak personally with the head of the Russian space agency. "They have not told me anything," Bridenstine said during a Houston energy conference question session Thursday (Sept. 19), according to the Houston Chronicle. But he emphasized that he wants to keep good relations with the Russians, one of the two chief partners on the orbiting complex. "I don't want to let one item set [the relationship] back, but it is clearly...

Dec. 3, NASA astronaut Anne McClain is expected to take her first spaceflight aboard Soyuz, as every U.S. astronaut has done since 2011. But starting as early as next year, U.S. astronauts will climb on board commercial crew vehicles manufactured and launched from the United States. It's been a long journey for NASA, which has been pushing a crew program to completion... ever since the space shuttle program was retired in 2011.... Since then, NASA has had no way of flying astronauts into space from the United States. Instead, all space station astronauts have had to fly from remote Baikonur,...

"The Soyuz rocket will be launched only after the inquiry has identified the causes of the emergency and measures have been taken to prevent such situations in the future," Krikalev said, according to Russian news agency TASS. Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin initiated the investigation immediately after the launch failure, and the investigating committee has been examining telemetry data and rocket fragments gathered after the incident. Roscosmos already had five Soyuz launches scheduled to take place before the next crewed launch: a cargo delivery to the International Space Station on Oct. 30 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan; a weather satellite launch on...

Two astronauts are alive after dramatically aborting their voyage to the International Space Station when their Russian Soyuz rocket malfunctioned while it carried them into orbit at 4,970mph. American Nick Hague and Russian Aleksey Ovchinin were forced to abort their mission on the cusp of space, at an altitude of approximately 50km (164,000ft). They landed safely in Kazakhstan after a 'ballistic re-entry', during which they experienced forces of up to 7G. Video footage from the launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome shows a large plume of smoke coming from the rocket at the moment it failed and footage from inside the...

The problem occurred as the booster stages of the Soyuz rocket separated. Mission control in Houston confirms that the crew will be attempting a ballistic reentry. A sharp descent that will hopefully allow them to land downrange.

Several days ago it was reported that astronauts found a hole in the Russian segment of the International Space Station that was leaking air. One of the astronauts plugged the hole with his own finger before sealing the hole with a nylon ribbon to stabilise pressure on board the ISS. The hole posed no threat to the crew, but it had to be fixed. According to updated information, the 2-millimeter (0.08-inch) hole appeared in the spaceship when the Soyuz was being built. Reportedly, an employee made a mistake, but it was decided to fix the problem with the help of...

June 3, 2018 — A Russian spacecraft carrying three crew members home from a five month stay on the International Space Station returned to Earth on Sunday (June 3). Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, Norishige "Neemo" Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and astronaut Scott "Maker" Tingle of NASA touched down aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft on the steppe of Kazakhstan. Descending under a parachute, the gumdrop-shape capsule was further slowed by braking thrusters and landed southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 8:39 a.m. EDT (1239 GMT or 6:39 p.m. local Kazakh time). "That was a good ride!"...

A Japanese astronaut who is living on the International Space Station says he has grown 9cm (3.5in) since arriving there just over three weeks ago. Norishige Kanai wrote on social media he was worried he would not fit into the seat of the Russian Soyuz vehicle that is due to bring him home in June. Astronauts grow an average of between two and five centimetres in space. This is because of the absence of gravity which allows the vertebrae in their spines to spread apart. Mr Kanai tweeted: "Good morning, everybody. I have a major announcement today. We had our...

How does an astronaut return to Earth from the International Space Station? What does it feel like to re-enter the atmosphere? How does the Soyuz capsule function? Watch and find out. This video is based on an actual lesson delivered to the ESA astronaut class of 2009 (also known as the #Shenanigans09) during their ESA Basic Training. It features interviews with astronauts who have flown on the Soyuz and dramatic footage of actual landings. Produced by the ESA Human Spaceflight and Operations (HSO) Astronaut Training Division, Cologne, Germany, in collaboration with the HSO Strategic Planning and Outreach Office, Noordwijk, The...

Attached to the station’s no-longer-needed shuttle port at the front of the station, the Boeing-built International Docking Adapter will allow spacecraft from both companies to bring crews to the outpost, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz ferry ships. A second IDA is expected to be attached in 2018. “It is amazing that now we’ve opened up a new chapter in the story of the International Space Station, putting the front door on this for future commercial vehicles,” radioed station commander Jeff Williams, who worked with astronaut Kate Rubins to attach and outfit the IDA. “Congratulations to the entire team.”...

Nigerian astronaut lost in space needs $3m to get home - could be a scam The Anorak Inbox features this plea: Nigerian Astronaut is lost in space needs $3Million to come home ... Subject: Nigerian Astronaut Wants To Come Home Dr. Bakare Tunde Astronautics Project Manager National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) Plot 555 Misau Street PMB 437 Garki, Abuja, FCT NIGERIA Dear Mr. Sir, REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL I am Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the...

A "close pass" by orbiting junk has forced the International Space Station's crew to scramble into its attached Soyuz capsule. It is the fourth time in ISS's 15 years that a collision risk has prompted such precautions. Three astronauts briefly fled the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday as a fragment of a former Soviet weather satellite flew by. They sheltered in a Soyuz spacecraft, which normally transports crew members to and from Earth. A space industry source quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax claimed that US space monitors had spotted the space junk "very late." That had left...

Soyuz 2 launcher currently operates alongside the Soyuz-U (mainly used for launching the unmanned Progress Resupply Spacecraft to the International Space Station) and the Soyuz FG (primarily used for human flights with the Soyuz Spacecraft for missions to ISS), but according to Spaceflight 101, the Soyuz 2 will eventually replace the other vehicles once they are phased out. In fact, in October of 2014, the Soyuz 2 in 2014 had its first launch of a Progress cargo spacecraft. Other achievements were that the last two launches of the year were conducted without the aid of DM blocks – a derivative...

Four satellites for O3b Networks, a company which provides broadband connectivity to the developing world, are ready for launch Thursday on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket from the European-run spaceport in French Guiana. Liftoff is set for 1855:56 GMT (2:55:56 p.m. EDT). Rocket: Soyuz 2-1b Payload: O3b F2 Date: July 10, 2014 Time: 1855:56 GMT (2:55:56 p.m. EDT) Launch Site: ELS, Guiana Space Center, Sinnamary, French Guiana Live launch coverage at the link! ArianeSpace Launch Press Kit

World Leadership: In retaliation for imposing sanctions over Ukraine, Moscow will bar our use of its rocket engines in launching U.S. military satellites and deny the U.S. use of the International Space Station. It may come as news to some that the nation that once used the massive Saturn V launch vehicle to put men on the moon now imports Russian rocket engines, but we do. That supply is to be cut off in response to the sanctions imposed by President Obama in response to Moscow's annexation of Crimea and its actions against Ukraine. Also to be cut off is...