Normalcy is beginning to return to International Space Station operations as the crew of Soyuz MS-11 successfully launched and docked with the orbiting outpost—seven weeks after an in-flight abort thwarted plans of the previous human spaceflight.
Liftoff took place atop a Soyuz-FG rocket at 11:31 UTC Dec. 3, 2018, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Read MoreFor two decades, the International Space Station has been a shining example of what can be accomplished when humanity works together.
A cooperation between 15 partner nations and five space agencies, this 420 metric ton, football field-sized complex orbits Earth at an altitude of 400 kilometers every 90 minutes at 28,000 kph.
Read MoreLess than 24 hours after Progress MS-10 docked with the International Space Station, Northrop Grumman’s NG-10 Cygnus cargo freighter rendezvoused with the orbiting outpost.
After launching from Wallops Island, Virginia, two days ago, the spacecraft arrived in the vicinity of the ISS in the early-morning hours of Monday, Nov. 19, 2018.
Read MoreTaking two days to reach the International Space Station, Russia’s Progress MS-10 rendezvous and docked with the orbiting outpost’s Zvezda service module.
Progress MS-10 made contact with the aft port of the outpost's Zvezda module 19:28 UTC Nov. 18, 2018. Several seconds later, the vehicle’s docking probe was retracted to bring the craft in contact with the docking ring for a hard mate.
Read MoreFollowing a six-week stay at the International Space Station, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Kounotori 7 cargo ship was unberthed and commanded to depart the vicinity of the orbiting outpost.
European Space Agency astronaut and Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst commanded the 17.6-meter Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the cargo craft at 16:51 UTC Nov. 7. His back-up support was NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor.
Read MoreWhen the Soyuz MS-08 crew departed the ISS Oct. 4, 2018, the crew members aboard it took the time to photograph the whole International Space Station just in time for the 20th anniversary of the first modules being launched.
Soyuz MS-08 left at 7:57 UTC with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev and NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold. Upon undocking from the Poisk module, the spacecraft performed a full fly around of the space station, something that had not been done since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.
Read MoreIt’s been more than two weeks since then in-flight abort of the Soyuz MS-10 mission with Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague. Now the pieces of the mishap puzzle are starting to trickle in.
On Oct. 11, 2018, Ovchinin and Hague were strapped into their Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft atop a Soyuz-FG rocket in Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, for a planned six-month stay at the International Space Station. It was to be Ovchinin’s second spaceflight and Hague’s first.
Read MoreFor the first time in International Space Station history, a crew has failed to reach orbit. The spacecraft's escape tower safely pulled Soyuz MS-10 with its two-person crew away from the failed booster.
Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague lifted off atop a Soyuz-FG rocket at 2:40 p.m. local time (4:40 a.m. EDT / 8:40 GMT) Oct. 11, 2018. Around the time of the separation of the four strap-on boosters was when the issue occurred.
Read MoreAs soon as late 2019, another airlock is expected to be delivered to the International Space Station, but it won’t be used for astronauts or cosmonauts. Instead NanoRack’s Bishop airlock module will be utilized to deploy CubeSats and other external payloads for NASA and governmental or commercial customers.
Read MoreAfter spending 197 days in space, three members of the International Space Station’s Expedition 56 crew returned to Earth in their Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft, landing in Kazakhstan some 500 kilometers from where they launched in March.
Returning home were Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev and NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold. The trio undocked from the ISS at 07:57 UTC Oct. 4, 2018, and performed a fly around of the station before moving away from the complex.
Read MoreOrbital Velocity is designed to be "living time capsule" about the International Space Station.
This project is an attempt to bridge an information gap between space agencies and companies, as well as a public that supports space endeavors with their tax dollars. Despite the importance of the space station, the general public doesn't always know what is happening aboard this amazing complex on a regular basis. Research being conducted isn't always readily available and what information is out there can sometimes be difficult to understand. Some people aren't even aware there is an active space program, let alone a space station.
Orbital Velocity hopes to change that by building a database of information through blogs, a website, small videos and longer documentary-like series'.
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