Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

An uncrewed spacecraft landed in China’s Inner Mongolia region Monday after nearly 13 days in orbit carrying an array of microgravity research experiments, including a groundbreaking investigation that showed mammal embryos can develop in space, Chinese state media reported.

An Indian Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle debuting an upgraded higher-thrust second stage engine lifted off at 1126 GMT (7:26 a.m. EDT) Thursday with an S-band communications satellite.

Leaving crewmate Peggy Whitson behind in orbit for an extended mission, a Russian cosmonaut and his French co-pilot undocked from the International Space Station early Friday and plunged back to Earth, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 196-day mission.