The European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived in Florida late Friday after a trans-Atlantic journey from a test center in Germany, ready to begin preparations for a liftoff from Cape Canaveral in February aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

The additional docked time will give Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams more time to help out aboard the station while flight controllers and engineers continue scrutinizing telemetry and finalizing plans for re-entry with five known helium leaks in the capsule’s propulsion system and unexpected, presumably now-resolved issues with multiple maneuvering jets.

Scientists eager for answers to long-standing questions about the geology of Mars will get a lift Saturday with the blastoff from California of an Atlas 5 rocket with NASA’s InSight mission, a robotic landing craft that will take the pulse and temperature of the red planet.