Live coverage: Soyuz crew capsule departs station, lands in Kazakhstan

The access arm that will be used by astronauts boarding SpaceX’s Crew Dragon space capsule was installed on the gantry at launch complex 39A on August 20, 2018.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two Russian cosmonauts will ride a Soyuz ferry ship to the International Space Station early Friday, the first step in a record crew rotation requiring two launches and two landings with four different spacecraft in just three weeks.

Japan’s space agency has set Sept. 30 as the target launch date for the country’s sixth resupply mission to the International Space Station, carrying cargo, experiments and six lithium-ion batteries to kick off a major upgrade of the lab’s electrical system.