Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

Veteran Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, flanked by Canadian flight engineer David Saint-Jacques and NASA astronaut Anne McClain, launched toward the International Space Station at 6:31 a.m. EST (1131 GMT) Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the first crew launch for Russia’s space program since a Soyuz booster failure led to the emergency landing of a two-man crew in October. The Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft docked with the station at 12:33 p.m. EST (1733 GMT).

The claims outlined in the report stem from whistleblower information and documents from NASA to its workforce. The report was published less than 48 hours before the end of the 2025 fiscal year.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, equipped with three strap-on solid-propellant boosters for added performance, was transfered from its assembly building to the pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today for Sunday’s launch of the commercial EchoStar 19 communications satellite.