Video: Time lapse of ATV’s final departure from ISS

The dream of a self-sufficient space-faring civilization moved a step closer to reality as a commercial 3D printer was installed aboard the International Space Station for a tryout in orbit.

One job deemed essential by the European Space Agency coronavirus pandemic involves shepherding the BepiColombo spacecraft through a high-speed flyby of planet Earth next month, an immovable event on the $1.8 billion mission’s seven-year journey to Mercury.

Watch Falcon 9 lift off from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A on a space station resupply mission. The rocket’s first stage then returned to land at neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.