Live coverage: International Space Station crew lands in Kazakhstan

Firing into orbit from a barrier island on India’s east coast, a 145-foot-tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off early Wednesday to deploy 20 satellites in a perch more than 300 miles above Earth.

Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague landed safely downrange in Kazakhstan on Thursday after a Soyuz booster failure cut short their ascent into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome toward the International Space Station. The emergency landing was the first Soyuz in-flight abort since 1975.

A commercial airlock built in partnership by NanoRacks and Boeing will be connected to the International Space Station in 2019, the companies announced Monday, after the proposed project won preliminary approval from NASA managers.