Live coverage: Station astronauts wire up new antennas

This time-lapse video shows a view of launch pad 39A as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft were raised vertical at the historic seaside complex Thursday, May 21, in preparation for liftoff on a piloted test flight to the International Space Station.

Veteran Russian commander Oleg Novitskiy, rookie flight engineer Pyotr Dubrov, and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei launched into orbit Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:42 a.m. EDT (0742 GMT). The crew members rode a Soyuz capsule in pursuit of the International Space Station, where docking occurred at 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 GMT).

The International Space Station crew reaches out with the Canadian robotic arm and grabs the free-flying Cygnus OA-7 commercial cargo ship filled with supplies, food and science gear.