Live coverage: Soyuz crew lands in Kazakhstan

Blue Origin was able to secure permission from the Federal Aviation Administration for a daytime launch attempt while the emergency order constraining commercial launches remains in place even after the end of the government shutdown. Liftoff is scheduled during an 88-minute-long window that opens at 2:57 p.m. EST (1957 UTC).

Data from the Jan. 19 in-flight launch escape demonstration of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft indicate the performance of the capsule’s SuperDraco abort engines was “flawless” as the thrusters boosted the ship away from the top of a Falcon 9 rocket with a peak acceleration of about 3.3Gs, officials said Thursday.

AsiaSat’s most powerful communications satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral in California to reach developing markets in Myanmar, Indonesia and other parts of the Asia-Pacific, rode a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage Thursday into orbit ranging more than 22,000 miles above Earth.