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

Working amid coronavirus restrictions, engineers readied a Soyuz spacecraft for launch Thursday to ferry two Russian cosmonauts and Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut Chris Cassidy to the International Space Station.

The mission comes as SpaceX is preparing for a week that includes a rideshare flight; a dual-manifest, Moon bound missions; and Starship Flight 7. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 11:47 a.m. EST (1647 UTC).

Giulio Ranzo is the chief executive of Avio, the Italian company responsible for building the Vega rocket. Ranzo recently spoke with Spaceflight Now about the Vega rocket’s increasing launch rate, the debut of the new Vega C booster in 2020, and future plans to evolve the Vega design to compete with commercial microsatellite launchers.