Spaceflight Daily Report, Thursday 15th October 2026

CRS-35 approaches the ISS. Image credit: NASA.

Arrival of CRS-35

The SpaceX CRS-35 mission, which launched on Tuesday, arrived at the International Space Station today and docked with the zenith port of the Harmony module at 1427 UTC. Anil Menon (MS-29, NASA) and Joshua Kutryk (Crew-13, CSA) monitored the spacecraft's approach from inside the station. The Cargo Dragon being used for the mission is C211, on its 4th flight, which was previously used for CRS-26, 29, and 33. The 2867 kg of cargo includes a fourth pair of iROSA roll-out solar arrays to supplement the station's ageing power supply, which will be installed during two upcoming spacewalks. CRS-35 will remain docked to the station for a few weeks and is expected to return to Earth in mid-November. Its return cargo will include one of the station's spacesuits, which will be refurbished on Earth then sent back up on a future mission. [Source: NASA]

ION SCV Deployments

The United States Space Force are tracking five new Earth observation satellites in orbit belonging to American company Planet Labs, designated Flock 4J-1 through 5. These were launched as part of the Transporter-18 rideshare mission earlier this month and deployed over the course of the past few days by Italian company D-Orbit's ION SCV Absolute Andreas. Additionally, D-Orbit announced today that ION SCV Alluring Alexander, also launched on Transporter-18, yesterday deployed MOI-1A, a computing satellite operated by the Indian company TakeMe2Space. [Source: Space-Track.org, D-Orbit]

Other notes

• The Falcon 9 scheduled to launch at 2357 UTC was delayed until after midnight and will therefore be covered in tomorrow's blog post.
• The launch of a Ceres 1S has been scheduled for no earlier than 21st October. [Source: Next Spaceflight]
• The launch of a Long March 8A has been scheduled for no earlier than 22nd October. [Source: Next Spaceflight]
• The launch of a Long March 4B has been scheduled for no earlier than 23rd October. [Source: Next Spaceflight]
• The UK Space Agency have selected Swiss company ClearSpace to build and operate the UK Active Debris Removal mission, aiming to launch in 2029. [Source: ClearSpace]
• NASA's analysis of the Artemis II heat shield confirms it performed much better than during Artemis I, and that the design should be safe to use for future missions. [Source: NASA]

Spaceflight Daily Report, Thursday 1st October 2026

Crew-13 aboard Grace. Image credit: NASA

Launch of SpaceX Crew-13

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 1510 UTC, or 1110 local time (EDT). This was carrying SpaceX Crew-13, a Crew Dragon spacecraft (Grace) carrying two Americans, one Canadian, and one Russian to the International Space Station. The spacecraft docked to the forward port of the Harmony module at 2305 UTC, just eight hours after launch, which is a new record for a US spacecraft. Hatch opening will occur after midnight UTC and will be covered in tomorrow's report. This was the 692nd flight of the Falcon 9, the 2nd flight of Crew Dragon Grace, and the 3rd flight of booster B1101, which performed a boostback burn and successfully landed at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone 40. [Source: SpaceX]

The crew will join Expedition 75, and are expected to remain on the station for around five months. The mission commander is NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, a geologist who got her start at NASA working on various robotic Mars missions. This is her second spaceflight; she previously flew on SpaceX Crew-4 back in 2022, when she became the first Black woman to serve on a long-duration ISS mission, and as of today she is the first person to fly on two different Crew Dragon missions. The mission's pilot is NASA astronaut Luke Delaney, who became a test pilot for NASA after retiring from the Marine Corps. This is his first spaceflight. The first of the two mission specialists is Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk. He joined the CSA after a career as a test pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force. This is also his first spaceflight. And finally, the second mission specialist is Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. Before being selected as a cosmonaut, he worked as a submarine engineer for the Russian Navy. This is his first spaceflight as well. The three first-timers are jointly the 649th people to achieve orbit, the 744th people to fly above 100km (the FAI definition of space), and the 785th people to fly above 50mi (the US definition of space). There are now 14 people in orbit: five Americans, four Russians, three Chinese, one Canadian, and one French. There are also currently five women in orbit, matching the record first set in 2022. [Source: NASA]

Launch of Transporter-18

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg in California at 1832 UTC, or 1132 local time (PDT). This was Transporter-18, the latest SpaceX rideshare mission carrying a reported 130 payloads to Sun-synchronous orbit, including satellites for communication, Earth observation, medical manufacturing, technology demonstrations, orbital servicing, and orbital transfers. The full launch manifest can be found beneath the "read more" break. 71 objects were deployed during today's deployment sequence. This was the 693rd flight of the Falcon 9, and the 25th flight of booster B1082, which performed a boostback burn and successfully landed at Vandenberg's Landing Zone 4. [Source: SpaceX]

UPDATE: Today, in addition to the objects deployed directly from Transporter-18 (see full launch manifest below), OSSIE deployed NIS-PQ for the Greek company Libre Space Foundation, and ION SCV Alluring Alexander deployed SanoSat-3 for Nepali company Orion Space. The deployment of the rest of the tugs' payloads will follow in the coming days. [Source: Jonathan McDowell's GCAT]

Other notes

UPDATE: An RK-IM suborbital spaceflight took place on this day. See 6th October 2026 for details.

Spaceflight Daily Report, Tuesday 7th July 2026

Image credit: SpaceX

Launch of Transporter-17

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg in California at 0712 UTC, or 0012 local time (PDT). It was carrying Transporter-17, a rideshare mission which delivered a total of 81 payloads to orbit. The full launch manifest is at the bottom of this post, after the "read more" break. This was the 662nd flight of the Falcon 9, and the 11th flight of booster B1097, which successfully landed on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. [Source: SpaceX]

Deployment of CubeSats from International Space Station

Six small satellites developed by American universities were deployed from the International Space Station's Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer on 2nd July, without an official announcement being made at the time. These were Proves-Alcyone (Columbia), Proves-Atlas (Northeastern), HUCSat (Harvard), Coconut (Arizona State), LeopardSat (Cincinnati), and Proves-Electra (Santa Cruz). [Source: Jonathan McDowell]

International Space Station Activities

NASA published their daily blog post on the crew's activities aboard the International Space Station. The crew carried out routine research and maintenance, as well as preparing for the arrival of MS-29 and the departure of MS-28. [Source: NASA]