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

Russia launched an unpiloted Progress cargo freighter Sunday from Kazakhstan, on course to deliver 2.7 tons of food, fuel, water, and supplies to the International Space Station before hauling away a no-longer-needed section of the outpost later this year to clear the way for a new laboratory module.

A Russian cosmonaut and his NASA co-pilot, five months after riding out a dramatic launch abort last October, finally made it into orbit Thursday and, along with a NASA astronaut making her first flight, docked with the International Space Station six hours later to boost the lab’s crew back to six.

The Israeli company which owned a commercial communications satellite destroyed in an explosion last week at SpaceX’s launch pad in Florida will receive more than $200 million in payouts stemming from the incident, and hopes to purchase a replacement, officials said Monday.