GordonD Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 The next few weeks will be busy ones in the field of manned spaceflight, if all goes according to plan. A week on Monday (17 October) the Chinese are due to launch Shenzhou XI, to dock with the new Tiangong 2 space station. It will carry a crew of two, though the names have not yet been announced. They're due to stay in orbit until 20 November. Two days after that sees the delayed launch of Soyuz MS-02, taking the ISS crew back up to six people. It will be carrying Sergei Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko from Russia and Robert Kimbrough of the USA. On 30 October the Soyuz MS-01 crew are due to return to Earth, signalling the start of ISS Expedition 50, then on 15 November the Soyuz MS-03 is scheduled for launch. This will be crewed by Oleg Novitsky of Russia, Peggy Whitson of the USA and Thomas Pesquet from France. This will be Whitson's third spell aboard the ISS - she already holds the female cumulative duration record at over 376 days. Of course any of these dates could be changed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 The Chinese have launched, just before midnight UTC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-37670842 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Watched it on you tube this morning. Some interesting observations - the tracking cameras did a great job following the ascent the on board footage was good too the new version of the Shenzhou is a three seater - although there were only two taikonauts on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted October 19, 2016 Author Share Posted October 19, 2016 The Chinese spacecraft has docked with the Tiangong-2 space station and the Soyuz MS-02 is in orbit and heading for the ISS. There are now eight people in orbit, more than there have been for quite a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 The Soyuz MS-01 crew landed safely a few hours ago. Up on the ISS the remaining crew have begun Expedition 50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorClanger Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 And today, the first flight of Long March 5, China's new heavy booster. Which, to my considerable surprise, was being shown live on Chinese TV, which someone was streaming online. Even more surprising, there was live rocket camera footage showing events all the way up to the separation of the payload / final stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 Kit please, Dragon - in 1/48th, naturally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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