TWIRL 67: China is set to launch taikonauts to its space station and Russia to resupply ISS

We have a quiet week in terms of launches in the coming week but the two that will be happening are pretty interesting as they both involve space stations! The first mission will see Russia send a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and then two days later China will send a crew to the Tiangong space station as part of the Shenzhou 14 mission.

Friday, May 3

The first mission this week will be Russia’s Progress MS-20 which will see a Soyuz 2.1a rocket launch a Progress cargo ship to the ISS. The supplies include propellant, pressurised gasses, water, and other cargo. You can watch the launch on YouTube.

Sunday, May 5

The final mission of the week will see China’s Shenzhou 14 head toward the Tiangong space station. It will blast off on a Long March 2F/G rocket and will be carrying several taikonauts. The crew for this mission has not yet been unveiled. You can tune into this launch on YouTube too, if you miss it be sure to check next week’s recap section.

Recap

The only launch we got this week was a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying out the Transporter-5 mission. This rideshare mission was carrying 59 small spacecraft for various clients.

While not a launch, this NASA footage of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter performing its longest and fastest flight to date is interesting.

That’s all for this week, don’t forget to share the article, comment, and check in next week!