Members only: Press site view of SpaceX’s 13th space station resupply launch

An antenna-covered communications spacecraft that will bring more bandwidth and capacity to the U.S. military’s global information grid than any single satellite ever before was successfully launched Wednesday atop a Delta 4 rocket.

Astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japanese crewmate Norishige Kanai floated outside the International Space Station Friday, repositioned two robot arm grapple mechanisms following repair work last month and carried out a variety of “get-ahead” tasks before calling it a day.

The mission comes as SpaceX continues to ferry four astronauts to the International Space Station on Axiom Mission 4, which launched in the predawn hours. Liftoff occurred from pad 40 at 3:54 p.m. EDT (1954 UTC).