Crew & Cargo Reach ISS, Chinese Satellites Enter Lunar Orbit
A new crew arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Monday a day after a trio of Chinese satellites entered orbit around the Moon.
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, and Belarusian spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya arrived aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft two days after being launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Caldwell-Dyson is scheduled for a six-month mission on the station. Novitsky and Vasilevskaya will spend about 12 days aboard ISS before returning with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft.
The crew arrived two days after SpaceX’s CRS-30 Cargo Dragon spacecraft docked with the space station carrying supplies and experiments for the seven astronauts aboard. The spacecraft also carried seven CubeSats that will be deployed from the space station.
Recent Launches
March 20 - Long March 8 - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation - Queqiao-2, Tiandu-1, Tiandu-2 - China National Space Administration (Queqiao-2), Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (Tiandu-1, 2) - Communications - Wenchang - China
March 21 - Long March 2D - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation - 6 Yunhai-2 - China Academy of Space Technology - Meteorology - Jiuquan - China
March 21 - Electron - Rocket Lab - RASR-5 (USA-352), Aerocube 16A, Aerocube 16B, Mola - National Reconnaissance Office (RASR-5), The Aerospace Corporation (Aerocube 16A, 16B), Naval Postgraduate School (Mola) - Technology demonstration - Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport - USA (2:40 a.m. EDT/0640 UTC)
March 21 - Falcon 9 - SpaceX - Cargo Dragon (CRS-30) + 7 CubeSats - SpaceX + multiple - ISS resupply - Cape Canaveral - USA (4:54 p.m. EDT/2054 UTC)
March 23 - Soyuz-2.1a - Roscosmos - Soyuz MS-25 - Roscosmos - ISS crew - Baikonur - Kazakhstan
March 24 - Falcon 9 - SpaceX - 23 Starlink - SpaceX - Communications - Kennedy - USA
Three Chinese spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Sunday. The Queqiao-2 communications satellite will support the Chang'e-6, Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions set to land on the Moon. Chang’e-6 is scheduled to launch in May.
Queqiao-2 was accompanied by two smaller communications satellites, Tiandu-1 and Tiandu-2, that also entered lunar orbit on Sunday. Built by Nanjing University’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, the twin spacecraft will test technology for a future lunar navigation and positioning constellation.
Upcoming Launches
United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) is preparing for the final flight of the Delta IV Heavy. The booster will launch the Orion 12/Mentor 10 satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on March 28.
The Delta IV rocket family has a record of 43 successes and one partial failure since November 2002. The partial failure occurred on the maiden flight of the Delta IV Heavy variant in December 2004.
It will be the final flight of the Delta family of boosters that first flew in 1962. ULA is phasing out the Delta IV and Atlas V rockets in favor of the Vulcan Centaur booster. Vulcan Centaur made a successful debut flight in January.
Upcoming Launches
March 25 - Falcon 9 - SpaceX - 23 Starlink - SpaceX - Communications - Cape Canaveral - USA
March 26 - Long March 6 - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation - TBA - Taiyuan - China
March 28 - Falcon 9 - SpaceX - Starlink - SpaceX - Communications - Vandenberg - USA
March 28 - Delta IV - United Launch Alliance - Orion 12/Mentor 10 - National Reconnaissance Office - Reconnaissance (signal intelligence) - Cape Canaveral - USA
March 30 - Falcon 9 - SpaceX - Starlink - SpaceX - Communications - Vandenberg - USA
March 30 - Soyuz-2.1b - Roscosmos - Resurs-P No. 4 - Roscosmos - Earth observation - Baikonur - Kazakhstan
March 30 - Falcon 9 - SpaceX - Eutelsat 36D - Eutelsat - Communications - Kennedy - USA
March 31 - Ceres-1 - Galactic Energy - TBA - Jiuquan - China
SpaceX has three Falcon 9 launches with Starlink broadband satellites aboard scheduled before the end of March.
Launch Statistics
The U.S. continues to lead the world with 34 launches, followed by China with 13 and Russia with four.
SpaceX has launched half of the world’s 58 launches so far this year. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is in second place with eight launches. Rocket Lab has launched four times.
Falcon 9 has launched 28 times with 487 payloads aboard. No other launch vehicle has flown more than four times.
Florida has hosted 19 launches with an additional 10 launches taking place from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Jiuquan and Xichang spaceports are tield for fourth place with four launches apiece.