Live coverage: Japanese cargo craft arrives at space station

This is the pre-launch news conference held Dec. 2 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for liftoff of the Orbital ATK commercial Cygnus cargo ship aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket for the International Space Station.

Christopher Ferguson, commander of the final space shuttle flight and now a Boeing executive, has stepped down as commander of the first piloted test flight of the company’s troubled CST-100 Starliner commercial spacecraft, he and Boeing announced Wednesday. He has been replaced by NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore.

An electrical problem on one of the Ariane 5 rocket’s two solid rocket boosters led to an on-pad launch abort Tuesday, likely delaying liftoff with two U.S.-built communications satellites until around the end of September, Arianespace officials said.