Live coverage: Soyuz crew lands in Kazakhstan

A new satellite design will debut with Friday’s launch of a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana on a commercial mission to relay video, data and voice messages between the Americas and Europe.

Ready for a resupply run to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was raised vertical at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Wednesday ahead of a planned liftoff with more than 5,700 pounds of science experiments and crew supplies.

This is video footage documenting preparations for the commercial Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo freighter to perform the OA-7 mission to the International Space Station. Activities occurred at the Kennedy Space Center’s Space Station Processing Facility and the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The craft will be boosted into orbit by a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on April 18 at 11:11 a.m. EDT (1511 GMT).