Live coverage of the countdown and launch of the NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive environmental satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Mission Reports
Live coverage: Vega launch of 53 smallsats again delayed by high-altitude winds
After months of delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Arianespace scrubbed back-to-back Vega launch attempts Saturday and Sunday due to unfavorable high-altitude winds over the European-run Guiana Space Center in South America. The Vega rocket is awaiting launch on a rideshare mission carrying 53 small satellites into orbit for 21 customers in 13 countries.
Mission Reports
Live coverage: Soyuz capsule brings home station crew
Soyuz commander Alexei Ovchinin, flight engineer Oleg Skripochka and outgoing space station skipper Jeff Williams returned to Earth on Tuesday with a parachute-assisted touchdown in Kazakhstan. Their Soyuz TMA-20M capsule undocked from the station at 2151 GMT (5:51 p.m. EDT) and landed at 0113 GMT (9:13 p.m. EDT).
Mission Reports
Live coverage: Soyuz crew arrives at International Space Station
Two U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut, all spaceflight veterans, launched from Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz booster Wednesday to begin a two-day pursuit of the International Space Station. The crew docked with the orbiting research complex Friday at 1940 GMT (3:40 p.m. EDT) to begin a five-month stay.