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

Loaded with more than 6,000 pounds of supplies, experiments, and hardware, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon freighter docked with the International Space Station at 1:40 p.m. EST (1840 GMT) Monday, one day after taking off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was the first Dragon cargo mission to automatically dock with the space station.

With three space station fliers heading home Sunday after a 168-day mission, three fresh crew members made final preparations for launch three days later to boost the lab’s crew back to six in a rapid-fire rotation that will prevent any major interruption of research activity.

A three-man crew donned pressure suits, strapped into a Russian Soyuz space capsule and rode a rocket into orbit Friday, starting a record-setting expedition on the International Space Station that — for two of the crew members — will last for 342 days.