Atlas 5/Cygnus post-launch news conference

Watch an Atlas 5 rocket launch the EchoStar 19 satellite on December 19, 2016. This view was captured by Spaceflight Now’s camera at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Press Site.

Lawmakers last week questioned the Trump administration’s proposal to end direct U.S. government support of the International Space Station in 2025, citing concerns about the economic viability of commercial outposts in low Earth orbit.

Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague landed safely downrange in Kazakhstan on Thursday after a Soyuz booster failure cut short their ascent into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome toward the International Space Station. The emergency landing was the first Soyuz in-flight abort since 1975.