Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

Loaded with more than 6,000 pounds of supplies, experiments, and hardware, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon freighter docked with the International Space Station at 1:40 p.m. EST (1840 GMT) Monday, one day after taking off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was the first Dragon cargo mission to automatically dock with the space station.

The International Space Station’s oldest sections launched nearly 17 years ago, and with the huge orbiting research complex now well into its operational life as a microgravity science lab, prime contractor Boeing’s job is keeping the outpost going, according to Mark Mulqueen, who manages the aerospace company’s space station program.

Ground crews at the Xichang launch center in China postponed the launch of a Long March 3B rocket into orbit Tuesday that was to complete the deployment of the Beidou navigation fleet, a project approved by the Chinese government in 1994 to end reliance on the U.S. military’s GPS network.