Live coverage: Soyuz crew lands in Kazakhstan

This time-lapse video shows a view of launch pad 39A as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft were raised vertical at the historic seaside complex Thursday, May 21, in preparation for liftoff on a piloted test flight to the International Space Station.

After downloading science data and bypassing a balky thruster, NASA’s Kepler mission has resumed its search for planets around other stars after a two-month pause in observations, but engineers expect the spacecraft to soon run out of fuel.

Christopher Ferguson, commander of the final space shuttle flight and now a Boeing executive, has stepped down as commander of the first piloted test flight of the company’s troubled CST-100 Starliner commercial spacecraft, he and Boeing announced Wednesday. He has been replaced by NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore.