Live coverage: Veteran three-man crew docks with space station

An unexpected, quickly-planned spacewalk is on tap Monday to troubleshoot a problem preventing the International Space Station’s robot arm transporter from reaching a worksite where it can be locked down, a requirement before a Russian Progress cargo ship can dock later in the week.

Two communications payloads — one for Intelsat and another for Europe’s data relay satellite system — lifted off from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at 1930 GMT (3:30 p.m. EDT) Tuesday.

NASA is gearing up for an intense few weeks of work aboard the International Space Station, staging three spacewalks, moving a docking port from one module to another to support commercial crew ferry ships and capturing an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship carrying nearly 4 tons of equipment and supplies.