Space Station Live: January 4, 2016

A $26 million science instrument carried to the International Space Station by SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule has been switched on and is measuring winds over the world’s oceans to help forecasters track the intensity of tropical cyclones, NASA officials said.

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.

Ground crews transferred an Antares rocket out of an assembly building to a launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore in a major step before liftoff on Orbital Sciences’ third flight to resupply the International Space Station.