SpaceX's Dragon: Robotic Capsule Undocks from Canadarm on Space Station

SpaceX's Dragon capsule was released from the International Space Station's robotic arm at 9:26 a.m. EDT (1326 GMT) on May 18, 2014.
Credit: NASA TV

SpaceX's Dragon robotic, unmanned, capsule departed the International Space Station today, putting it on a path back to Earth after about one month attached to the orbiting outpost.

The robotic spacecraft is loaded down with more than 3,500 lbs. (1,587 kg) worth of science samples and supplies which should be safely delivered to Earth once the SpaceX capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean later today (May 18).

Splashdown is expected to occur at about 3:02 p.m. EDT (1902 GMT) off the coast of Baja California where officials can recover the supply craft.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule orbits with the International Space Station before its release on May 18, 2014.

Credit: NASA TV

Ground controllers maneuvered the space station's robotic arm to pluck Dragon from the Harmony module and move it into position for release.

The spacecraft was let go from the station at 9:26 a.m. EDT (1326 GMT) as both flew 266 miles (428 kilometers) above the ocean south of Australia, according to NASA.

SpaceX's Dragon also performed a series of thruster burns to move a safe distance from the station before it is expected to execute its deorbit burn at about 2:12 p.m. EDT (1812 GMT).

Dragon has been attached to the space station since April 20, after its launch atop the private spaceflight company's Falcon 9 rocket on April 18 from Florida.

SpaceX successfully performed a daring reusable rocket test during the April 18 launch.

The spaceflight company brought the boost stage of the Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth, landing it upright in the ocean, after delivering Dragon to the proper orbit.

SpaceX's Dragon capsule flies above Angola while attached to the International Space Station just before its release on May 18, 2014. 

Credit: NASA TV

Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft returns Expedition 37 crew safely to Earth

Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin after landing back on Earth in Kazakhstan Nov. 10, 2013 on a Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft with crewmates Karen Nyberg of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency. 

The Olympic torch arrived at the space station on Nov. 7 with another Soyuz crew.

Credit: NASA TV

A Russian Soyuz space capsule landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan Sunday (Nov. 10), returning cosmonauts and two astronauts to Earth along with the Olympic torch.

The Soyuz spacecraft landed at 9:49 p.m. EST (0249 Nov. 11 GMT) in central Kazakhstan, where the local time was Monday morning.

Frigid temperatures greeted the returning space travelers — cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano — after five and a half months in space.

"The initial reports indicate a bull's eye landing for the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft and its crew," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during the agency's televised landing commentary.

View from the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft as it undocks from the ISS 

ESA ATV Albert Einstein undocks from ISS

The European Space Agency’s fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) undocks from the aft port of the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module. Image Credit: NASA TV

The European Space Agency’s fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4), also known as the “Albert Einstein,” undocked from the aft port of the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module at 4:55 a.m. EDT Monday.

Its departure sets the stage for the relocation of a Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at the station and the arrival of three new crew members.

Expedition 37 Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano and Oleg Kotov, who together closed up the hatches to the ATV-4 Friday, monitored the automated departure from a control panel inside Zvezda, ready to take control of the process if needed.

Meanwhile Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin photographed the departing space freighter to capture imagery of its docking assembly and a set of sensors at the forward end of the spacecraft.

At the time of undocking, the station was orbiting about 260 miles above Kazakhstan.

Fyodor Yurchikhin

ATV-4, now filled with trash and unneeded items, fired its thrusters to back a safe distance away from the orbiting complex.

An engine firing Saturday will send it into the Earth’s atmosphere for a planned destructive re-entry over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific Ocean.

The “Albert Einstein,” named in honour of the famed German-born theoretical physicist and icon of modern science, delivered more than 7 tons of food, fuel and supplies to the orbiting complex when it docked automatically on June 15.

During its time at the station, the ATV-4 also provided an additional reboost capability for the complex, as flight controllers periodically commanded its engines to fire to adjust the station’s orbit.

The fifth and final ATV, designated the “Georges Lemaître” after the Belgian astronomer who first proposed the theory of the expansion of the universe, is scheduled to launch in mid-2014 for a six-month mission at the station.

More than 32 feet long -- about the size of a traditional London double-decker bus – the ATV is the largest and heaviest vehicle in the station’s resupply fleet.

The departure of ATV-4 clears the way for Parmitano, Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg to relocate their Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft from its docking port on the Rassvet module to the newly vacated Zvezda port on Nov. 1.

ESA ATV undocks from ISS and performs new maneuvres

ATV Albert Einstein, Europe’s supply and support ferry, docked with the International Space Station on 15 June 2013, some ten days after its launch from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. 

Credit: ESA/NASA

This year, the ATV team has planned a special departure.

After undocking at 09:00 GMT on 28 October, Albert Einstein will be instructed by the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France, to perform a series of delicate manoeuvres over the course of five days to position itself directly below the Station.

Controllers will start the reentry procedure around 1300 CET on 2 November when ATV-4 is 120 km below the Station – so astronauts will observe the craft from above as it disintegrates over the Pacific Ocean.

This procedure will provide valuable information to calibrate future spacecraft reentries.

Cygnus Releases from International Space Station

Expedition 37 crew members aboard the International Space Station released Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft from the station's robotic arm at 7:31 a.m. EDT on Oct. 22. 

Orbital Sciences engineers now will conduct a series of planned burns and maneuvers to move Cygnus toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere Wednesday, Oct. 23.

Cygnus had been attached to the space station's Harmony module for 23 days. The spacecraft delivered about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food, clothing and student experiments, on a demonstration cargo resupply mission to the station.

Cygnus was launched on Orbital's Antares rocket on Sept. 18 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Image Credit: NASA/Karen Nyberg

Soyuz Progress 49 Cargo Freighter Undocks from ISS

An unmanned Russian Soyuz Progress 49 cargo spacecraft left the International Space Station early Monday, making way for the next Progress space freighter, NASA said.

The ISS Progress 49 resupply ship, which spent more than five months attached to the station's Zvezda service module, was undocked at 8:02 a.m. EDT, the space agency reported.

After firing its thrusters to slowly move away from the ISS, Progress 49 will re-enter Earth's atmosphere Sunday and will burn up over the Pacific Ocean, officials said.

Its departure clears the way for the arrival of the ISS Progress 51 cargo craft that will ferry more than 3 tons of food, fuel, supplies and experiment hardware to the six crew members aboard the orbital laboratory.

Progress 51 is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan April 24 and dock with the station two days later, NASA said.

ESA's ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi: Cargo Ship Leaves Space Station

The European Space Agency's ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi supply ship is seen undocking from the International Space Station on Sept. 28, 2012, in this still image from a video camera on the station.

CREDIT: NASA TV

On Friday, the ATV-3 spacecraft, which is named the Edoardo Almadi after the famed late Italian physicist of the same name, made a flawless departure from the station.

It will spend the next few days orbiting Earth before being intentionally destroyed on Tuesday (Oct. 3) by burning up in Earth's atmosphereover the Pacific Ocean.

"Today, everything has worked to perfection," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during the agency's live broadcast of the undocking.

The ATV-3 spacecraft was built by the European Space Agency and delivered 7.2 tons of food, water and other vital supplies to astronauts aboard the International Space Station when it launched in March from a South American spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The ATV-3 spent 184 linked to the space station before being packed with trash and other unneeded items for its eventual fiery demise in Earth's atmosphere.