Spaceflight Daily Report, Wednesday 16th September 2026

Image credit: Roscosmos

Launch of Progress MS-35

Roscosmos launched a Soyuz 2.1b from Baikonur in Kazakhstan at 1333 UTC, or 1833 local time (KZT). This was carrying Progress MS-35 (designated Progress 96 by NASA), a cargo resupply mission for the International Space Station, including 842kg of fuel, 1122kg of life support supplies, and 525kg of equipment. Among the new equipment is an exoskeletal controller for an anthropomorphic robot called "Teledroid" that will be delivered aboard the next cargo mission. The mission was originally due to launch a week ago, but was delayed due to an issue with the rocket's third stage. The spacecraft is scheduled to rendezvous and dock with the zenith port of the Poisk module of the ISS on Saturday. This was the 209th flight of the Soyuz-2 family of rockets, and the 87th flight of the 2.1b configuration. [Source: Roscosmos]

Scrub of USSF-259

SpaceX were scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg in California carrying the USSF-259 mission today, but the flight was scrubbed and will now aim to launch tomorrow. [Source: SpaceX]

International Space Station Activities

The crew of the International Space Station continued their routine research and maintenance while they await the arrival of Progress MS-35. Jessica Meir performed sleep and stress research and worked on loading and unloading cargo from the Cygnus spacecraft. Andrey Fedyaev inspected laptops. Jack Hathaway replaced water filters in an oxygen generator. Sophie Adenot performed exercise research. Pyotr Dubrov performed maintenance on power systems and the ventilation system. Anna Kikina serviced an oxygen generator. Anil Menon continued his soldering research. The members of Crew-12 - Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, and Fedyaev - called down to Earth for a news conference with journalists. [Source: NASA]

Crew-13 Rescheduled

NASA announced that SpaceX Crew-13, the next crewed launch to the ISS, is now aiming to launch in "early October". The mission was originally scheduled to launch on Saturday 12th September, but was delayed due to an oxidizer leak in the Crew Dragon spacecraft (Grace). The faulty oxidizer valve has now been replaced. [Source: NASA]