Live coverage: Japanese cargo craft arrives at space station

An Ariane 5 rocket has blasted off from a tropical launch pad in French Guiana on nearly 3 million pounds of thrust, hoisting two U.S.-built communications satellites to orbit for commercial owners in Brazil and Japan.

A Russian cosmonaut and his two NASA crewmates undocked from the International Space Station and landed in Kazakhstan early Friday, returning to an unfamiliar world in the grip of a pandemic that will force them to extend the social isolation they were hoping to end.

Relive the steps to stack the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility for the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo freighter for the International Space Station.