Live coverage: Station crew lands after 11 months in orbit

Taking advantage of available astronaut time, the International Space Station’s crew will cast off the commercial Orbital ATK Cygnus freighter on Sunday morning nearly six weeks ahead of schedule.

A 151-foot-tall Soyuz launcher climbed into space from French Guiana on Thursday with the Boeing-built SES 15 communications satellite bound for an operating position over the Americas in geostationary orbit.

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 0427 GMT Thursday (11:27 p.m. EST Wednesday) with 31 satellites from nine countries, with most of the smallsats coming from U.S. customers.