Q&A with John Elbon, VP and general manager of Boeing’s space exploration division

Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station Friday for the first of four spacewalks to repair a $2 billion cosmic ray detector, breezing through work to prep the device for invasive surgery to splice in new coolant pumps and extend the instrument’s life probing the composition of the universe.

Launch facilities at Cape Canaveral were spared any significant damage as Hurricane Dorian churned northward off Florida’s east coast earlier this week, and employees at the spaceport resumed their normal work Friday.

See images of a classified spy payload lifted on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.