Live coverage: International crew lands in Kazakhstan

Disconnected from the International Space Station berthing port and then cast free by the robotic arm, the commercial Cygnus cargo craft flew away Friday after successfully restarting U.S. resupply service to the outpost.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made a historic New Year’s encounter with an object nicknamed Ultima Thule in the Kuiper Belt a billion miles beyond Pluto. The NASA space probe passed Ultima Thule at a distance of around 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) on Jan. 1, making it the most distant planetary body ever explored up close.

Photos captured by astronauts on the International Space Station show a Japanese cargo freighter, covered with reflective solar panels and golden insulation, on final approach to the 250-mile-high outpost.