Key keywords: International Space Station, Roscosmos, Soyuz crew spacecraft, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ballistic missile test, low Earth orbit, NASA, space security, cross-border space cooperation In the latest edition of the global rocket and space activity roundup, two high-profile events dominated headlines this week, spanning both civilian space cooperation and military aerospace testing. First, Russian space agency Roscosmos officially announced it has reopened access to the Soyuz crew spacecraft’s docking ports on the International Space Station (ISS) for international partner missions, ending a two-year suspension of shared crew transport arrangements imposed amid heightened geopolitical tensions following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. Prior to the suspension, Soyuz served as one of only two operational crew transport systems for the ISS, alongside NASA’s SpaceX Crew Dragon, and was the primary backup option for emergency crew return or contingency missions. Roscosmos officials noted in a press briefing that the decision to restore shared access aligns with the agency’s recent commitment to continue participating in the ISS program through 2028, three years longer than its initially announced exit timeline. NASA welcomed the announcement, stating that additional crew transport redundancy will significantly reduce operational risks for the ISS, which is scheduled to remain in service through 2030 before being deorbited over the Pacific Ocean. The first joint crew mission using the restored Soyuz access is scheduled for late 2024, with a NASA astronaut joining two Roscosmos cosmonauts on a six-month stay aboard the orbiting outpost. On the other side of the Atlantic, the U.S. Space Force confirmed it conducted an unannounced intermediate-range ballistic missile test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida earlier this week. The test, which involved an unarmed missile fitted with a suite of sensor and telemetry equipment, flew over the Atlantic Ocean before impacting a designated target range near Ascension Island roughly 3,000 miles off the coast of Florida. Department of Defense officials emphasized that the test was a long-planned routine evaluation of the U.S. military’s conventional strike capabilities, not a response to any specific global event, and that advance notifications were sent to relevant international stakeholders in line with existing arms control agreements. Data collected from the test will be used to refine the accuracy, range and reliability of the U.S. military’s next-generation ballistic missile fleet, as well as to inform upgrades to the national missile defense system. The dual events highlight the increasingly overlapping nature of civilian and military space activity globally, as major powers balance commitments to collaborative space exploration with investments in national security aerospace capabilities.