Live coverage: Kennedy Space Center to reopen Friday

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship departed the International Space Station on Wednesday, fired rocket thrusters to brake out of orbit, and parachuted to a picture-perfect splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with approximately 3,461 pounds of experiment samples and equipment.

America’s most experienced astronaut says her fully commercial visit to the International Space Station this week is a critical stepping stone on the road to space tourism, private-sector orbital research and development of commercially operated space stations.

An early bird rocket launch from the Florida spaceport will take to the skies before dawn Thursday when an Atlas 5 lofts a classified U.S. government satellite.