Friday, March 286:30 a.m. | Coverage of Northrop Grumman’s NG-21 Cygnus spacecraft release from the International Space Station. Release scheduled for 6:55 a.m. Stream on NASA+
Jonathan McDowell @planet4589Splashdown of Crew-9 Dragon at about 2157:07 UTC Mar 18 near 84.1W 29.2W
NASA has not yet decided if Crew-11 will be followed by another Crew Dragon mission, Crew-12, or the first Starliner crew rotation flight. “We probably have a little bit more time, as we get into the summer and understand that the testing we’re going to go do to make that decision,” he said.
UPDATED MARCH 24, 2025...A Falcon 9 will launch the CRS-32 resupply mission to the ISS from pad 39A on April 21 at 4:15 a.m. EDT. The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch. Upcoming launches include more Starlink batches. A Falcon 9 will launch the Axiom-4 spaceflight participant mission to the International Space Station on late May, around noon EDT. The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch.
Tuesday, April 812:45 a.m.| Coverage of the launch of the Soyuz MS-27 Crew (Ryzhikov, Zubritsky, Kim) to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Launch scheduled at 1:47 a.m. EDT). Stream on NASA+4:15 a.m. | Coverage of the docking of the Soyuz MS-27 Crew (Ryzhikov, Zubritsky, Kim) to the Prichal Module of the International Space Station (Docking scheduled at 5:03 a.m. EDT). Stream on NASA+6:15 a.m. | Coverage of the hatch opening and welcoming remarks by the Soyuz MS-27 Crew (Ryzhikov, Zubritsky, Kim) Aboard the International Space Station (Hatch opening scheduled at appx. 6:44 a.m. EDT). Stream on NASA+
Cygnus NG-22 has been canceled. NG-23 launches NET fall 2025.https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1904996963700871582
At 6:55 a.m. EDT, the S.S. Richard “Dick” Scobee Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which earlier detached Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station’s Unity module. At the time of release, the station was flying about 260 miles over the Pacific Ocean. The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the space station more than seven and a half months after arriving at the microgravity laboratory to deliver about 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo for NASA. Following a deorbit engine firing on Sunday, March 30, Cygnus will begin a planned destructive re-entry, in which the spacecraft – filled with trash packed by the station crew – will safely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
International Space Station @Space_Station.@NorthropGrumman 's Cygnus cargo craft was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm and departed the station at 6:57am ET today completing a seven-and-a-half-month mission. More... https://go.nasa.gov/4hSuKOi
NASA Shares SpaceX Crew-11 Assignments for Space Station MissionTiernan P. DoyleMar 27, 2025 RELEASE25-010NASA HeadquartersNASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 members stand inside the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. From left are Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Commander NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos, and Pilot NASA astronaut Mike Fincke.Credit: NASAAs part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission, four crew members from three space agencies will launch in the coming months to the International Space Station for a long-duration science expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory.NASA astronauts Commander Zena Cardman and Pilot Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov will join crew members aboard the space station no earlier than July 2025.The flight is the 11th crew rotation with SpaceX to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future missions to the Moon, as well as benefit people on Earth.Cardman previously was assigned to NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, and Fincke previously was assigned to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission. NASA decided to reassign the astronauts to Crew-11 in overall support of planned activities aboard the International Space Station. Cardman carries her experience training as a commander on Dragon spacecraft, and Fincke brings long-duration spaceflight experience to this crew complement.Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017, Cardman will conduct her first spaceflight. The Williamsburg, Virginia, native holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a master’s in Marine Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At the time of selection, she had begun pursuing a doctorate in Geosciences. Cardman’s research in geobiology and geochemical cycling focused on subsurface environments, from caves to deep sea sediments. Since completing initial training, Cardman has supported real-time station operations and lunar surface exploration planning.This will be Fincke’s fourth trip to the space station, having logged 382 days in space and nine spacewalks during Expedition 9 in 2004, Expedition 18 in 2008, and STS-134 in 2011, the final flight of space shuttle Endeavour. Throughout the past decade, Fincke has applied his expertise to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, advancing the development and testing of the SpaceX Dragon and Boeing Starliner toward operational certification. The Emsworth, Pennsylvania, native is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School and holds bachelors’ degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in both Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. He also has a master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in California. Fincke is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel with more than 2,000 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.With 142 days in space, this will be Yui’s second trip to the space station. After his selection as a JAXA astronaut in 2009, Yui flew as a flight engineer for Expedition 44/45 and became the first Japanese astronaut to capture JAXA’s H-II Transfer Vehicle. In addition to constructing a new experimental environment aboard Kibo, he conducted a total of 21 experiments for JAXA. In November 2016, Yui was assigned as chief of the JAXA Astronaut Group. He graduated from the School of Science and Engineering at the National Defense Academy of Japan in 1992. He later joined the Air Self-Defense Force at the Japan Defense Agency (currently Ministry of Defense). In 2008, Yui joined the Air Staff Office at the Ministry of Defense as a lieutenant colonel.The Crew-11 mission will be Platonov’s first spaceflight. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, Platonov earned a degree in Engineering from Krasnodar Air Force Academy in Aircraft Operations and Air Traffic Management. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in State and Municipal Management in 2016 from the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia. Assigned as a test cosmonaut in 2021, he has experience in piloting aircraft, zero gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.
Don requested re-entry time for Cygnus. MCC-H answer--1015Z on Sunday 4000 km in front of ISS.
Friday, April 1812:10 p.m. | International Space Station change of command ceremony. Aleksey Ovchinin to hand over command to Takuya Onishi. Stream on NASA+
Katya Pavlushchenko@katlinegreyAn ISS orbit correction was performed today, and before I tell you the usual numbers, I want to share this video by Ivan Vagner. He showed how a Progress' engine boost feels like inside the station using a plastic bag and candies.And here is a usual message: a planned ISS orbit correction was performed today at 09:52 UTC in preparation for the #SoyuzMS27 arrival. #ProgressMS30 engines fired for 1035.5 sec with an impulse of 2.06 m/s, increasing the station's orbit altitude for 3.6 km.https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1907535071365505507
While Axiom has little or no competition for previous PAM awards, it will likely face stiffer competition this time. Vast, a company also planning to develop commercial space stations, has previously stated its intent to submit proposals for the next PAM competition.The new competition continues a pace of one PAM a year, even though NASA continues to state it will allow up to two such missions annually. PAM 5 is projected for no earlier than May 2026 and PAM 6 no earlier than mid-2027.
