Live coverage: Soyuz crew lands in Kazakhstan

The first spacecraft in a new generation of Russian Progress cargo vehicles parked at the International Space Station on Wednesday, bringing a holiday delivery of more than 5,000 pounds of fuel, water and supplies for the research lab’s six-person crew.

An upgraded Soyuz ferry ship, the second in a new series featuring improved avionics, navigation and other systems, glided to a flawless docking with the International Space Station early Friday, bringing three fresh crew members to the outpost and briefly boosting the lab’s crew back to six.

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket climbed into space Sunday with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on a daring mission to explore the atmosphere of the sun. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral occurred at 3:31 a.m. EDT (0731 GMT).