The meeting ceremony of the crew of the 55 / 56th long expedition to the ISS (Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Richard Arnold) was held today. After the rehabilitation period, the expedition members met again in Star City, where Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of Roscosmos State Corporation, Narmin Shiraliyeva, Minister of Culture of the Moscow Region, and other honored guests met to greet them. Following a long-term tradition, the crew, as well as the management of Roscosmos, the Cosmonaut Training Center, the enterprises of the rocket and space industry, and representatives of foreign space agencies laid flowers at the monument to Yuri Gagarin. After it, Oleg Artemyev, Andrew Feustel and Richard Arnold, accompanied by high-ranking guests, the orchestra and the residents of Star City, walked along the Cosmonauts Alley to the Cosmonauts House, where, according to a long-term tradition, a ceremonial meeting, dedicated to the ISS-55/56 crew, took place.

On January 14, 2019, Russian remote sensing satellites "Kanopus-B" №5 and №6, launched into orbit on the eve of the new 2019 year, transferred the first images of the Earth. Spacecrafts "Kanopus-B" №5 and №6 joined the successfully functioning space group. So, now in space is operating a full orbital system for operative monitoring of the technogenic and natural emergency situations of the six "Kanopus-B" spacecrafts. For more than six years of operation, the space complex "Kanopus-B" with the same devices demonstrated its high reliability and relevance, becoming suppliers of high-quality satellite images.

On January 11th 2019 in Moscow at the Red Square held a ceremony of laying flowers at the burial place of the founder of Russian practical cosmonautics Sergey Korolev, related to his 112th birthday anniversary. Director of the “Roscosmos” State corporation Dmitri Rogozin, Sergey Korolev daughter - Natalia Koroleva, Soviet and Russian cosmonauts, executives and representatives of the space industry enterprises took part in the ceremony. Sergey Korolev considered as a pioneer in the main directions of developing national rocket weaponry and the space-rocket industry (rockets R-2, R-5, R-7, first satellite in the world PS-1, spaceship “Voskhod” and oth.), providing strategic parity and made Russia the leading space-rocket country.

On January 11, 2019, Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre celebrates 59th anniversary.

The crew members of the "Soyuz MS-09" spaceship, undocked today from the International Space Station (ISS), returned safely to Earth. The landing module with Roskosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopiev, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor landed in the Kazakhstan on December 20, 2018 at 8:02 (Moscow time). The duration of stay in the space flight of the crew of the long expedition ISS-56/57 was 197 days. "Soyuz MS-09" spacecraft has been a part of the ISS since June 8, 2018.

The 57th long expedition is being completed at the International Space Station (ISS). According to preliminary data from the ballistic and navigation support service of the Mission Control Center, the undocking of the "Soyuz MS-09" spacecraft from the ISS is scheduled for December 4, 2018 at 04:00. 40 min 30 seconds (Moscow time). Landing of the descent vehicle of the "Soyuz MS-09" spaceship is expected at 08:03 am (Moscow time) 147 km south-east of the city of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

Specialists at the "Vostochny" Cosmodrome on the Refueling Station completed the refueling of the "Fregat" upper stage with fuel components. SOn December 20, a general assembly of the space head is planned, and the next day, its transportation to the launch-rockets assembly and test facility. Small space vehicles have already been installed on the transition truss, and the "Canopus-B" remote sensing satellites № 5 and 6 are being prepared for installation on the transition truss. The launch of the "Soyuz-2.1a" launch vehicle with Russian satellites for remote sensing of the earth and monitoring of emergency situations "Kanopus-B" №% 5 and 6 is scheduled for December 27, 2018.

On December 17 at the "Vostochny" cosmodrome a preparation of the spaceunits "Kanopus-B" № 5 and № 6 for launch continues. At present, final operations are being carried out on the mechanical and electrical assembly of the spaceunits.   The launch of the "Soyuz-2.1a" launch vehicle is scheduled for December 27, 2018.

Russia Wants to Extend U.S. Space Partnership. Or It Could Turn to China. Russia’s Museum of Cosmonautics displays with rightful pride artifacts from its early years of storied achievements in space exploration: the first satellite, the first dog in space, the first man and, soon thereafter, the first toolbox. On Tuesday evening in Moscow, two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev and Oleg Kononenko, exited the station for a spacewalk to investigate the exterior of the capsule. They planned to remove a panel from the craft and return it to Earth for an examination for signs of leaked sealant. The Soviet Union, though beaten to the moon by the United States, was no slouch in lunar exploration. The Soviet Union was the first to photograph the far side of the moon and to land a rover and return a sample robotically. But it canceled its piloted program in the 1970s rather than strive for a second-place landing. “We were close,” Mr. Moiseyev said. Separate programs today, Mr. Rogozin said, are a fallback option. “It wouldn’t be right,” he said, to plan for a future of piloted flight after the International Space Station with multiple, competing national programs or alliances. What Russia can offer, Mr. Rogozin said, is a margin of safety for any future moon orbiting station. Over decades operating the Salyut and later Mir space stations, Russian cosmonauts tackled a range of in-flight emergencies and repairs ranging from fires to collisions that made the Russian program look like an orbiting Murphy’s Law. But they survived. “It’s better, cheaper and safer to go together,” Mr. Rogozin said. “Politicians will say, ‘Let’s do it alone,’ but politics ends where the opinion of a serious scientist begins. That’s what I say.” If the United States chooses to exclude Russia, and an emergency arises, he said, “Who will answer for that?”

The spacewalk according to the Russian program was successfully completed by the cosmonauts of Roscosmos Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopiev. The total duration of the stay of the crew of the Russian segment of the International Space Station outside its borders was 7 hours and 45 minutes. When opening the screen-vacuum insulation and micro-meteoric protective panel on the outer surface of the living compartment of the "Soyuz MS-09" spacecraft, a small hole was found, that does not pose any danger to the crew of the ISS. It will also not threaten the safety of the crew of the ship, when it returns to Earth on December 20.