Video: Expedition 49 crew launches to the International Space Station

NASA has signed a $490 million agreement with the Russian government to ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station in 2018 and 2019 as a hedge in case of delays to Boeing and SpaceX crew capsules.

A Falcon 9 rocket booster which first flew in May took off for the second time Tuesday from Cape Canaveral carrying the Indonesian Merah Putih communications satellite.

Mike Suffredini is leaving NASA after 10 years at the helm of the International Space Station program overseeing assembly of the largest spacecraft ever built. He chatted with Spaceflight Now in his final weeks as space station program manager, sharing his memories and vision for the commercialization of low Earth orbit.