Atlas 5/Cygnus post-launch news conference

Russian engineers will replace rocket engines on two Soyuz rockets assigned to send a batch of supplies and the next crew to the International Space Station after an investigation revealed foreign objects or a manufacturing defect led to the crash of a Progress cargo craft on launch in December, according to Russian media reports and a statement from the Russian space agency.

In another first on Mars, an instrument inside NASA’s Perseverance rover has made oxygen out of carbon dioxide sucked in from the planet’s atmosphere, officials said Wednesday. The technology could help future astronauts “live off the land” by generating their own rocket fuel and breathing air.

SpaceX transferred the first astronaut-ready Crew Dragon spacecraft Friday night from a fueling facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where teams will join the capsule with its Falcon 9 launcher for liftoff later this month.