Two spacecrafts enroute to Space Station

The Orbital ATK Antares rocket with Cygnus liftoff. Credits: NASA–B. Ingalls

A busy time for the Space Station as the unmanned Orbital supply spacecraft was launched on 18 October at 01:45 CEST. The spacecraft carried general supplies and experiments including clothes and items for Thomas Pesquet as well as four experiments for France’s space agency CNES.

The spacecraft will take its time to reach the International Space Station its docking is planned for Sunday 23 October after the arrival of three new astronauts in the Soyuz MS-02.

The Soyuz MS-02 with NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko inside was launched this morning at 10:05 CEST. They will orbit Earth 34 times over two days before docking to the Space Station’s Poisk module at 12:59 Friday 21 October.

You can watch both dockings live via NASA TV. With the launch of Soyuz MS-02, Thomas Pesquet, Peggy Whitson and Oleg Novitsky are next in line to go to space on 16 November!

Soyuz MS-02 launch with Expedition 49 Soyuz commander Sergei Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and cosmonaut Andrei Borisenko of Roscosmos. Credits: NASA–J. Kowsky