Live coverage: SpaceX supply ship returns to Earth

The last of Japan’s first series of HTV supply ships departed the International Space Station on Tuesday with several tons of trash, old batteries, and unneeded equipment, heading for a destructive re-entry before the debut of an upgraded cargo freighter design.

Departing Expedition 49 Commander Anatoly Ivanishin hands over International Space Station command to NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.

Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Anton Shkaplerov floated outside the International Space Station on Friday and installed an upgraded electronics box on a high-gain communications antenna at the aft end of the Zvezda service module.