All articles tagged with #orbital rendezvous
Cosmonauts Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov conducted the only crewed transfer between two space stations, flying from Mir to Salyut 7 in 1986, spending 50 days there, and returning with 350–400 kg of instruments after a 29-hour transfer each way, for a total mission of 125 days.
NASA plans a mission to send a robotic LINK spacecraft to capture and boost the Swift Observatory into a higher orbit to prevent re-entry, extending its gamma-ray burst research. The plan involves Northrop Grumman’s Stargazer plane deploying a Pegasus XL rocket carrying LINK after takeoff from the Marshall Islands; Katalyst Space Technologies built LINK under a $30 million contract. If successful, the mission would demonstrate in‑orbit servicing at a fraction of the cost of a new mission and could extend Swift’s science return beyond its 2004 launch.