Live coverage: SpaceX cargo capsule returns to Earth

SpaceX launches its first Dragon capsule into orbit on a demonstration flight for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program on December 8, 2010. (Membership Required)

Orbital ATK’s Minotaur-C rocket delivered 10 satellites to orbit Oct. 31 after liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, marking the solid-fueled rocket’s return to flight — with a new name and upgrades — after a six-year hiatus.

A Russian Soyuz ferry ship carrying a Russian commander and two NASA astronauts caught up with the International Space Station Friday and executed a flawless docking to close out a two-day rendezvous that began with launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.