Q&A with Keith Gendreau, principal investigator of the first X-ray space communications experiment (members only)

A veteran cosmonaut, a German volcanologist and a Navy test pilot-turned-astronaut undocked from the International Space Station and returned to Earth, descending through low clouds to a jarring touchdown on the frigid steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 165-day stay in orbit.

NASA simulated an in-flight launch abort of an Orion crew capsule high above Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, in a major test of the safety system that would whisk astronauts on future moon missions away from a failing rocket.

The budget proposal coming from the White House would also reduce spending on the International Space Station program by more than $500 million.