Live coverage: Two Americans, one Russian back on Earth from space station

Orbital ATK shipped the final major piece of hardware for the next Cygnus space station resupply mission to a launch base on Virginia’s Eastern Shore last week as technicians began loading cargo destined for delivery to the orbiting research lab.

In the week since it departed the International Space Station to wrap up a successful cargo delivery mission, Orbital ATK’s Cygnus supply ship hosted a combustion research experiment, deployed four small satellites for a San Francisco-based startup, then descended into Earth’s atmosphere Sunday for a destructive re-entry.

Two astronauts floated outside the International Space Station Monday for NASA’s third spacewalk in less than three weeks for more battery replacement work and installation of cables.