Jonathan McDowell

Dr Jonathan McDowell writes on the technical history of space exploration and maintains a comprehensive catalogue of space objects at his website (link below). He is also an astrophysicist whose research publications include studies of cosmology, black holes, galaxies, quasars and asteroids, and he helps develop algorithms for X-ray astronomy as part of the Chandra telescope team.

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Fastest trip to the International Space Station

The fastest time to reach the International Space Station (ISS) from launching to docking is 3 hr 3 min, achieved on 14 Oct 2020 by the crewed Soyuz MS-17. The spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 05:45:04 UTC and docked with the ISS's Rassvet module at 08:48 UTC.