Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the Thor 7 and Sicral 2 communications satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Mission Reports
Live coverage: Soyuz crew back on Earth
Wrapping up a busy week on the International Space Station, a crew of three boarded their Soyuz landing craft and headed for Earth on Friday. Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, the most experienced space crewman in history, was at the controls, along with Danish and Kazakh crew members, and landed in Kazakhstan at 8:51 p.m. EDT Friday (0051 GMT Saturday).
Mission Reports
Live coverage: Three-man crew arrives at space station
Three new space station residents blasted off Wednesday on a fast-track six-hour pursuit of the orbiting research complex, kicking off five months in space. The U.S.-Russian-Japanese space crew lifted off at 2102 GMT (5:02 p.m. EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and docking occurred 0245 GMT (10:45 p.m. EDT).