Antonov 225 Mriya Takeoff at Minneapolis: Largest cargo plane

The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft that was designed by the Soviet Union's Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s.

The An-225's name, Mriya (Мрiя) means "Dream" (Inspiration) in Ukrainian. It is powered by six turbofan engines and is the longest and heaviest airplane ever built with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes.

It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service. The single example built has the Ukrainian civil registration UR-82060.

A second airframe was partially built; its completion was halted because of lack of funding and interest.

This image shows A Volga-Dnepr Airlines Antonov An-124

Credit: Wiki

The Antonov An-225, initially developed for the task of transporting the Buran spaceplane, was an enlargement of the successful Antonov An-124.

The first and only An-225 was completed in 1988. After successfully fulfilling its Soviet military missions, it was mothballed for eight years.

It was then refurbished and re-introduced, and is in commercial operation with Antonov Airlines carrying oversized payloads.

The airlifter holds the absolute world records for an airlifted single item payload of 189,980 kilograms (418,834 pounds), and an airlifted total payload of 253,820 kilograms (559,577 pounds).

It has also transported a payload of 247,000 kilograms (545,000 pounds) on a commercial flight.

ESA ATV-5 Georges Lemaître last ISS cargo Delivery

ATV-5 Georges Lemaître, the European Space Agency's fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ship, arrives at the International Space Station on Aug. 12, 2014 to deliver more than 7 tons of supplies. 

Europe's ATV spacecraft are one of several unmanned cargo ships keeping the space station stocked with supplies.

Credit: NASA TV

An unmanned European cargo vessel has linked up with the International Space Station for the last time.

The European Space Agency's fifth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) joined up with the station at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) on Tuesday (Aug. 12) as both spacecraft sailed high over southern Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

The delivery is the final one by Europe's ATV fleet of spacecraft, which has been resupplying the orbiting lab since 2008.

Tuesday's ATV docking at the aft end of the station's Russian-built Zvezda module was "as flawless as can be," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during a live broadcast of the orbital meet-up. "A perfect rendezvous and a textbook docking."

ESA ATV-5, Georges Lemaître, Fully Loaded and Hatch Closed

ESA’s fifth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Georges Lemaître, is now scheduled for launch to the International Space Station at 23:44 GMT on 29 July (01:44 CEST 30 July) on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

ATV-5 will deliver more than six tonnes of cargo to the Station, again breaking the record for the heaviest spacecraft launched on Ariane.

Everything has been loaded and the ferry is now sealed until it reaches the orbital outpost.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, currently on board the ISS, will be the first to open the hatch of ATV-5, Georges Lemaître, in space when he takes responsibility for the cargo as ‘loadmaster’.

Alexander will manage the unloading of 6.6 tonnes of experiments, spare parts, clothing, food, fuel, air, oxygen and water for the six astronauts living in the 'weightless' (Zero Gravity) laboratory.

ATV-5, Georges Lemaître showing the closed hatch after completion of cargo loading.

ESA ATV-5 Georges Lemaître: Loaded and Locked

ATV-5 (Georges Lemaître) mounted on the Ariane 5 ES launcher before encapsulation.

Credit: ESA–M. Pedoussaut, 2014

ESA's fifth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Georges Lemaître, is now scheduled for launch to the International Space Station at 23:44 GMT on 29 July (01:44 CEST 30 July) on an Ariane 5 ES rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

ATV-5 (Georges Lemaître) will deliver more than six tonnes of cargo to the Station, again breaking the record for the heaviest spacecraft launched on Ariane 5 ES launcher.

Everything has been loaded and the ferry is now sealed until it reaches the orbital outpost.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst will be the first to open the hatch of ATV Georges Lemaître in space when he takes responsibility for the cargo as 'loadmaster'.

Alexander will manage the unloading of 6.6 tonnes of experiments, spare parts, clothing, food, fuel, air, oxygen and water for the six astronauts living in the weightless laboratory.

The star of the manifest is ESA's Electromagnetic Levitator, which will study metals suspended in weightlessness as it heats them to 1600°C and then allows them to cool.

The 400 kg unit was carefully loaded into ATV-5 in Kourou before the vessel's propulsion module was attached.

ATV's two main sections were then mated, leaving access to the cargo hold only through the forward hatch used by the astronauts.

A special lift allowed technicians to enter the hold from above through this hatch, weeks before final closing time.

Fifty-seven bags were loaded this way, including last-minute spare parts such as a pump to help recycle water on the Station.

Russian Soyuz Foton-M Satellite fails to respond to commands

Soyuz engineers at Progress were trying to save a research satellite after it failed to respond to commands, which has left it in an improper orbit, Russian news agencies said.

The Foton-M satellite was launched on July 19 on a two-month mission to study the effect of weightlessness on plants and insects.

The satellite carries containers with living organisms, including five geckos, fruit flies and fungi, which are supposed to be jettisoned after two months in orbit and land in Russia.

There is no update on the status of the living cargo, since the containers are not designed to broadcast any telemetry while in space.

The mishap is the latest in series of setbacks that has plagued Russia's once-famed space programme.

Containers with biological experiment equipment being loaded into the Foton-M satellite. 

Photo by the Institute for Biomedical Problems. 

ESA ATV-5 Georges Lemaitre loaded with cargo after integration with Ariane 5 launcher

All ATVs have been orbited by Ariane 5 launchers, beginning with "Jules Verne" in March 2008, which was followed by "Johannes Kepler" in February 2011, "Edoardo Amaldi" in March 2012, and last June's flight with "Albert Einstein."

Europe's fifth, and final, Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is now integrated with its Ariane 5 launcher, enabling final cargo loading in preparation for Arianespace's July 24 mission from French Guiana.

The ATV is named after Belgian physicist and father of the Big Bang theory, Georges Lemaitre, and it will deliver fuel, air and more than 2,600 kg. of dry cargo to the International Space Station.

ESA ATV-5 cargo racks filled with cargo for ISS.

In addition, this ATV resupply spacecraft will perform maneuvers to maintain the facility's nominal orbit, as well as test new rendezvous sensors in space.

Using a hoist system set-up in Ariane 5's Final Assembly Building at the Spaceport, the remaining cargo is being loaded through the ATV's top hatch, carefully securing these bags supplied by the European, U.S. and Japanese space agencies.

The ATV program, managed by the European Space Agency (ESA), is part of Europe's contribution to the International Space Station's operation. Prime contractor is Airbus Defence and Space, which also is the industrial architect for Ariane 5.

All ATVs have been orbited by Ariane 5 launchers, beginning with "Jules Verne" in March 2008, which was followed by "Johannes Kepler" in February 2011, "Edoardo Amaldi" in March 2012, and last June's flight with "Albert Einstein."

Arianespace's latest ATV mission in support of International Space Station operations is designated Flight VA219 in the company's numbering system, and will utilize an Ariane 5 ES version of the heavy-lift workhorse.

SpaceX Dragon Grappled to Canadarm2

On Sunday, April 20, 2014, the Expedition 39 crew aboard the International Space Station welcomed nearly two-and-a-half tons of supplies and scientific payloads to the station with the arrival of the third SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo spacecraft.

Credit: NASA

This image of SpaceX Dragon grappled by Canadarm2 was sent down by Flight Engineer Steve Swanson to Instagram with the message, "We have a Dragon. All is good."

With SpaceX Dragon securely in the grasp of Canadarm2 , the robotics officer at Mission Control remotely operated the arm to install the capsule to its port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony (ESA built Node 2) module.

Once SpaceX Dragon was in place, Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio monitored the Common Berthing Mechanism operations for first and second stage capture of the cargo ship, assuring that the vehicle was securely attached to the station with a hard mate.

Second stage capture was completed at 10:06 a.m. EDT as the station flew 260 miles above Brazil.

Russian Soyuz Launch unmanned cargo spacecraft Progress M-22M

A Russian Soyuz-U booster carrying an unmanned cargo spacecraft Progress M-22M is transported to a launch pad at the Russian leased Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome early on February 3, 2012

Russia successfully launched an unmanned cargo ship to the International Space Station on Wednesday evening after a spaceship carrying three astronauts experienced a technical glitch last month.

"At 19:35 Moscow time (15:35 GMT), the cargo ship separated from the third-stage booster rockets on schedule," the Russian space agency said in a statement on its website after the Progress M-23M ship blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The ship carrying 2.5 tonnes of supplies including oxygen, containers of food and water and parcels for the crew is due to dock with the ISS at 01:16 am Thursday (21:16 GMT Wednesday).

The spaceship is following a fast-track route to the international space laboratory that takes just six hours.

Last month, a Soyuz spaceship carrying two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut, was unable to follow the fast-track route to the ISS after a technical glitch in approach.

The astronauts were forced to spend two days en route to the ISS.

Russia insisted that the glitch was minor and would not prevent future missions from using the fast-track route to the ISS.

NASA has been wholly reliant on Russia for delivering astronauts to the space station since the US retired its space shuttles.

Orbital Sciences: Antares Rocket & Cygnus Spacecraft Explained - Infographic

Credit: Space.com 

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Virginia-based Orbital Sciences holds a $1.9 billion NASA contract to make eight unmanned supply runs to the International Space Station with its Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo ferry.

Antares Launcher
The two-stage Antares launch vehicle burns liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene (RP-1). The rocket's height overall is 131 feet (40 meters). Its liftoff weight is 530,000 pounds (240,000 kilograms). The Antares rocket was originally called Taurus 2.

Cygnus Cargo Tanker
The Cygnus pressurized cargo module can carry up to 5,952 pounds (2,700 kg) of payload to the International Space Station.

At the rear of Cygnus is a service module containing avionics, power, communications and command and control hardware. On the outside of the service module are twin fixed-wing gallium arsenide solar arrays capable of putting out 3.5 kilowatts of electricity.

Future Cygnus spacecraft will be enhanced with a larger pressurized cargo module and lightweight solar panels.

SpaceX to Launch Dragon Capsules carrying Human Cargo - Astronauts

The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is grappled by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm.

This manouvre was carried out on Oct. 10, 2012 during the spacecraft's first cargo delivery mission for NASA, under a $1.6 billion deal for commercial cargo delivery.

CREDIT: NASA

Representatives from the three different companies chosen by NASA to develop private space taxis to carry astronauts to orbit say their vehicles are making substantial progress toward launching people into orbit within the next few years.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), The Boeing Company, and Sierra Nevada Corp., are competing to fill the gap left by NASA's retired space shuttles for the launching of cargo and crews to the International Space Station.

Each private space taxi firm has received funding from NASA under the Commercial Crew integrated Capability program (CCiCap) to complete a series of development milestones with the goal of taking over transportation to low-Earth orbit from the Russians.

"We're going great guns, we're working very hard, and we hope to have people flying very soon inside the Dragon," SpaceX's commercial crew project manager Garrett Reisman said at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight.