Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

A Falcon 9 rocket is being readied for a space station resupply mission at Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A . The rocket is scheduled to launch at 10:01 a.m. EST (1501 GMT) on Saturday, weather permitting. Watch live coverage.

With three space station fliers safely back on Earth after a pinpoint landing Sunday, three fresh crew members made final preparations for launch Wednesday from Kazakhstan to boost the lab’s crew back to six.

A minuscule particle of orbital debris or a pebble of space rock struck Europe’s Sentinel 1A radar imaging satellite Aug. 23, officials said Wednesday, leaving an imprint nearly twice the size of a basketball on one of the spacecraft’s solar panels.