Live coverage: Space station crew investigating slow pressure leak

SpaceX will sacrifice a Falcon 9 rocket Sunday in a fiery test a minute-and-a-half after liftoff from Florida’s Space Coast to prove the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft can safely push astronauts away from a failing launch vehicle, simulating a daring maneuver that would only be attempted on a piloted mission during an in-flight emergency.

NASA is modifying plans to send astronauts back to the moon in 2024 by taking the Gateway — a mini-space station to be assembled in lunar orbit — out of the critical path in favor of a simplified architecture, according to the agency’s chief of human spaceflight.

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:51 p.m. EDT (1751 GMT) today to haul a classified satellite into space for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Follow the mission in our live journal.