Russia’s Soyuz MS-19 sprinted from launch to docking with the International Space Station early Oct. 5, delivering film actress Yulia Peresild, producer Klim Shipenko and veteran cosmonaut commander Anton Shkaplerov in the latest of a rapid-fire sequence of missions exposing nonprofessionals to the opportunities and challenges of human spaceflight.

The stratospheric balloon operator is jumping into the space tourism industry, announcing Oct. 4 it is accepting $500 deposits for its “edge-of-space” trips to an altitude of 100,000 ft.

Command of the seven-person International Space Station transitioned on Oct. 4 from Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

The Russian Orbital Service Station, one of several low Earth orbiting outposts being planned to succeed the International Space Station (ISS), will feature six modules, including an inflatable unit with artificial gravity and a jig module to assembly components for future travel to the Moon, Roscosmos said.

Lockheed Martin has announced the opening in Courtland, Alabama, of the second of four planned “digital factories,” with this one dedicated to supporting the Defense Department’s portfolio of hypersonic glide vehicles.

Faced with cost, schedule and technical challenges, NASA is seeking proposals from the commercial sector for a new generation of spacesuits.

William Shatner, the Canadian actor whose portrayal of Capt. James T. Kirk in the 1966-69 television show Star Trek brought depictions of space exploration to millions of households, will get a real taste of space as a guest passenger aboard Blue Origin’s next New Shepard suborbital flight.

Engineers from NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne have completed the second in a series of Space Launch System (SLS) rocket engine tests for the production of the advanced RS-25 liquid hydrogen and oxygen engines assigned to human missions to the Moon beyond Artemis IV.