Live coverage: SpaceX supply ship returns to Earth

An automated logistics vehicle packed with nearly five tons of supplies reached the International Space Station on Monday after a laser-guided rendezvous culminating with grapple of the HTV cargo craft by the station’s robotic arm at 1028 GMT (6:28 a.m. EDT).

The Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1080, landed near Exuma, an island within The Bahamas. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 6:21 p.m. EST (2321 UTC).

A heavy-duty crane towering over launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in recent weeks has removed several large sections of a disused structure once needed to install satellites and space station modules into space shuttle cargo bays.