Live coverage: Japanese cargo craft arrives at space station

Two days after blasting off from Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Orbital ATK’s Cygnus supply ship reached its destination Tuesday. The automated spacecraft packed with 3.7 tons of supplies and experiments was captured by the International Space Station’s robotic arm at 5:04 a.m. EST (1004 GMT).

An Ariane 5 rocket will fire into the sky from French Guiana just after sunset Tuesday and deliver two payloads to orbit for Intelsat, one of the world’s largest commercial satellite operators, and Broadcasting Satellite System Corp. of Japan.

In a reshuffling of SpaceX’s launch schedule, a Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff no earlier than Dec. 8 on a mission to deliver several tons of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station and return to service a Cape Canaveral launch pad damaged in a catastrophic rocket explosion last year.