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

Russian flight controllers have given up attempting to salvage a Progress cargo ship loaded with 3 tons of supplies and equipment intended for the International Space Station. Astronaut Scott Kelly, on board the lab for a year-long mission, said Wednesday the Progress will not be docking and instead will plunge back into the atmosphere.

The four astronauts will spend three to five days in a free-flier Dragon mission that will see them orbit over the north and south poles. The crew arrived in Florida on Monday for their final week of quarantine before launch.

Orbital ATK shipped the final major piece of hardware for the next Cygnus space station resupply mission to a launch base on Virginia’s Eastern Shore last week as technicians began loading cargo destined for delivery to the orbiting research lab.