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

A Falcon 9 rocket took off for its fourth flight of the year Friday with a middle-of-the-night mission for SKY Perfect JSAT, a Tokyo-based satellite operator. The JCSAT 14 communications satellite launched from Cape Canaveral at 1:21 a.m. EDT (0521 GMT), and the rocket’s first stage booster made a successful landing at sea a few minutes later.

A Russian Soyuz rocket rolled out to its launch pad in Kazakhstan on Monday, two days before its scheduled departure with three passengers on the way to the International Space Station.

NASA and Orbital ATK officials have set Oct. 13 as the target date for the first Antares launch in nearly two years, giving approval for ground crews to load final cargo into the mission’s Cygnus supply carrier heading for the International Space Station.