Live coverage: Orion lands in Pacific

A Dragon supply ship owned and operated by SpaceX departed the International Space Station early Monday and returned to Earth for a predawn splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles with scientific specimens and other equipment. Astronaut Jack Fischer released the Dragon cargo capsule from the station’s robotic arm at 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT), and splashdown occurred around 8:12 a.m. EDT (1212 GMT).

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral today at 7:42 p.m. EST (0042 GMT) to deploy the U.S. military’s SBIRS GEO Flight 3 observatory, equipped with advanced telescopic infrared vision to spot enemy missile launches, for early warning surveillance.

A television broadcasting satellite for Eutelsat launched Friday atop a Russian Proton rocket to begin a 15-year mission beaming TV programming into homes across Europe. The Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2220 GMT (5:20 p.m. EST) Friday.