Live coverage: Japanese HTV resupply freighter captured by station robotic arm

A Moroccan military reconnaissance satellite secretly built in France lifted off Tuesday night aboard a European Vega rocket in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch occurred at 8:42 p.m. EST (0142 GMT).

The four-member crew will now fly onboard Dragon Endurance instead of SpaceX’s fifth Crew Dragon spacecraft as originally intended. Launch has moved up to Wednesday, March 12, “pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process.”

In a rapid-fire crew rotation, a Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut and an Italian flier plan to close out a 139-day mission aboard the International Space Station with a fiery plunge back to the frigid steppe of Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft early Thursday.