Luca during Soyuz redocking

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano in the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft.

A Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft was planned to arrive on 24 August with supplies and a Russian robot “Fedor” but its docking was called off after a problem with the automated docking system. Another attempt was made a few days later at a different docking port that was vacated by moving the Soyuz MS-13. Luca, US astronaut Andrew Morgan and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov moved their spacecraft manually in a half-hour spaceflight to make way for the new arrival.

Luca was launched to the International Space Station for his second mission, Beyond, on 20 July 2019. He will spend six months living and working on the orbital outpost where he will support more than 50 European experiments and more than 200 international experiments in space.

Follow Luca and his Beyond mission on social media on his website and on his blog.