Q&A with Michel Denis, ExoMars flight director

Leaving crewmate Peggy Whitson behind in orbit for an extended mission, a Russian cosmonaut and his French co-pilot undocked from the International Space Station early Friday and plunged back to Earth, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 196-day mission.

Satellite remote sensing companies showcased their capabilities in recent days with regularly-updated overhead views of a nearly quarter-mile-long container ship blocking the Suez Canal in Egypt before salvage crews freed the vessel Monday.

A pioneering Northrop Grumman-built satellite designed to dock with an aging spacecraft more than 22,000 miles above Earth, then extend its life with the aid of solar-electric thrusters, is set for launch Wednesday from Kazakhstan aboard a Proton rocket.