Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander

Flight controllers at NASA’s mission control center in Houston have completed the robotic swap out of a failed power distribution unit outside the International Space Station, clearing a hurdle ahead of Friday’s predawn launch from Cape Canaveral of a SpaceX supply ship.

Two NASA astronauts and an Italian flight engineer took shelter in the space station’s Russian segment Wednesday as mission control analyzed a possible leak of toxic ammonia coolant aboard the complex. Initial data indicated it was likely a false alarm.

Chinese officials said the Chang’e 5 mission finished drilling and scooping samples from a lunar lava plain late Wednesday, hours before the spacecraft’s robotic ascender was due to take off from the moon to begin the trip back to Earth.