Live coverage: 400th Proton rocket takes off with Russian satellite

Engineers readied a Russian Soyuz rocket for launch Wednesday to ferry a veteran cosmonaut and two NASA shuttle fliers to the International Space Station for a five-month stay.

Russian rocket technicians fueled a decommissioned ballistic missile with propellants Monday, a day ahead of the launch of a European satellite primed to observe the planet’s oceans.

Three Russian military satellites arrived in orbit Wednesday after taking off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome aboard a Rockot launch vehicle, a decommissioned ballistic missile modified for space applications.