Live coverage: Cygnus supply ship readied for station departure

In a brief White House ceremony Monday, President Trump formally directed NASA to set its sights on sending astronauts back to the moon followed by eventual flights to Mars as part of a new national space policy intended to make sure America “once again leads and inspires all of humanity” on the high frontier.

A Soyuz FG rocket thundered to life and shot into orbit smoothly Monday carrying three crew members on a six-hour flight to the International Space Station. The problem-free ascent came less than two months after an Oct. 11 launch abort that forced a different crew to carry out safe-but-scary emergency landing.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, heading east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite into orbit approximately 49 minutes after launch.