Space Station Live: January 4, 2016

A Long March 7 rocket lifted off Thursday with Tianzhou 1, an unpiloted refueling freighter heading for China’s Tiangong 2 mini-space station to conduct several months of robotic demonstrations, practicing for the assembly and maintenance of a future permanently-staffed orbital research complex.

NASA officials say the International Space Station’s logistics chain was designed to absorb a launch failure like the mishap that destroyed an Orbital Sciences Corp. cargo craft in October, but pressure is on SpaceX to deliver supplies on time this year.

NASA’s lead spacewalk flight director Royce Renfrew talks with public affairs office Rob Navias about the curtailed spacewalk by astronauts Tim Kopra and Tim Peake on January 15, 2016. Although the spacewalk’s major objective to replace a failed voltage regulator was a success, the spacewalk was cut short when a small water bubble had formed inside Kopra’s helmet.