Live coverage: Delta 2 launches

NASA is close to deciding whether to spend an extra $150 million to send the InSight lander to Mars in 2018 or cancel the mission after an instrument problem made the spacecraft miss a launch opportunity this year, with a verdict on the project’s future expected within weeks, officials said.

A SpaceX-owned Dragon supply ship packed with nearly three tons of cargo arrived at the International Space Station on Monday after a three-day trip from Cape Canaveral. The station’s robotic arm grappled the cargo capsule at 6:54 a.m. EDT (1054 GMT).

A Vega rocket launched from French Guiana at 0149:24 GMT Tuesday (8:49:24 p.m. EST Monday) with Europe’s fifth Sentinel environmental satellite. The Sentinel 2B observatory will take the pulse of Earth’s vegetation, monitoring crops, forests, urban sprawl, and pollution from polar orbit.