SpaceX launched the Dragon spacecraft on their eighth operational cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station. Among the cargo was the Bigelow Aerospace’s BEAM module, which was attached to the station and will stay so for 2 years. BEAM is an expandable habitat module that will undergo tests to determine its worthiness during the stay. The flight was conducted under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
Low Earth Orbit B1021 - Maiden Flight Of Course I Still Love YouShijian-10 is a retrievable satellite that will perform 19 experiments in low earth orbit over 15 days before returning to earth. The experiments onboard include the Soret Coefficient in Crude Oil (SCCO) experiments, as well as experiments on radiation, combustion, and biology. Due to the short lifespan and retrievable design the craft will not be encapsulated within a fairing and will be powered by chemical batteries instead of solar panels.
Low Earth OrbitThis is the sixth flight of Orbital ATK's unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fifth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. Orbital ATK named the vehicle after astronaut Rick Husband who was the commander of STS-107.
Low Earth OrbitSoyuz TMA-20M begins expedition 47 by carrying 3 cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skriprochka alongside NASA astronaut Jeff Williams will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station.
Low Earth OrbitThis is the first part of ESA’s and Roscosmos’s Mars exploration programme (ExoMars). The launch in the 2016 Mars window will consist of an orbiter and lander and will take 7 months to travel to Mars. The Trace Gas Orbiter will search for trace gases in the atmosphere such as methane and hydrogen. The Schiaparelli lander will travel with the orbiter until each reaches Mars, where it will attempt to descend through the atmosphere and land on the surface. The lander only contains a small array of scientific instruments, to conduct experiments over 4 Martian days.
Heliocentric N/AThis is the third satellite in the Resurs-P series of Earth observation satellites launched by the Russian government to replace the Resurs-DK 1 satellite. The satellite is capable of capturing images with a resolution of 3m per pixel in colour mode and as low as 1m in its panchromatic mode. The images provided will be used for the Russian ministries of Agriculture and Fishing, Meteorology, Transportation, Defence, and Natural Resources.
Low Earth Orbit