Live coverage: SpaceX cargo capsule returns to Earth

A SpaceX-owned Dragon cargo craft departed the International Space Station at 1011 GMT (6:11 a.m. EDT) Friday, and made a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 1547 GMT (11:47 a.m. EDT) with more than 3,000 pounds of cargo, research specimens and other hardware.

Citing schedule concerns over price benefits, Iridium announced Thursday it will launch its next 20 satellites on a pair of previously-flown Falcon 9 boosters from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, beginning with a Dec. 22 mission.

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket for the second time Saturday after replacing a valve following an earlier static fire test Wednesday. The move has postponed the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch with the Amos 17 commercial communications satellite to no earlier than Tuesday.