Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

Wrapping up a nine-day mission, four commercial astronauts on Axiom Space’s second flight to the International Space Station departed the orbiting research complex at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 UTC) Tuesday. The crew rode back to Earth inside a SpaceX Dragon crew capsule for splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico at 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 UTC).

Flight controllers at NASA’s mission control center in Houston have completed the robotic swap out of a failed power distribution unit outside the International Space Station, clearing a hurdle ahead of Friday’s predawn launch from Cape Canaveral of a SpaceX supply ship.

After several delays earlier this week, SpaceX conducted a hold-down test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Friday evening in a key test before launch next week on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.