Fifteen CubeSats owned by NASA, Spire Global, and U.S. research institutions launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship in May have been released into orbit, beginning missions to demonstrate miniaturized, low-cost Earth science instruments and join a commercial network of weather-monitoring nanosatellites.

Peggy Whitson, America’s most experienced astronaut with nearly two years in orbit over three missions, returns to Earth Saturday after an extended 288-day stay aboard the International Space Station, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan with Soyuz MS-04 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA flight engineer Jack Fischer.

A Falcon 9 rocket carried 60 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Thursday after swapping places with another Starlink mission SpaceX’s fast-paced launch schedule. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 1:19 a.m. EST (0619 GMT).