A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 3:40 a.m. local (6:40 a.m. EST; 1140 GMT) today to place a secret payload into space for the National Reconnaissance Office. Follow the mission in our live journal.

Despite NASA’s concerns about earlier thruster problems and multiple helium leaks in the ship’s propulsion pressurization system, the Starliner had no trouble undocking and moving away from the station at 6:04 p.m. EDT and executing a critical 59-second deorbit braking maneuver at 11:17 p.m. to drop out of orbit.

Nearly seven months aboard the International Space Station may be an extreme case of social distancing and isolation, but astronaut Jessica Meir says she expects to feel more isolated than ever when she returns next week to a planet in the grip of the coronavirus.