Q&A with Opher Doron, general manager of IAI’s space division (members only)

A barge and command ship chartered by SpaceX are stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida’s East Coast in a bid to recover a used-up Falcon 9 rocket stage Tuesday in a long-theorized — but never tried — maneuver that could lay the groundwork for a big advance in space technology.

The first Boeing Starliner spacecraft designed to fly to the International Space Station rolled out of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Nov. 21.

A day after aborting a rendezvous to resolve a navigation glitch, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft made a smooth final approach to the International Space Station on Thursday, floating in range of the research lab’s robot arm for capture at 5:44 a.m. EST (1044 GMT).