Live coverage: Space station crew safely returns to Earth

Mission leaders Tuesday gave approval for rollout of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket to its pad on Wednesday morning, leading to liftoff Thursday evening of a NASA probe to rendezvous with an asteroid and bring a sample back to Earth.

Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, two veteran space shuttle fliers, are gearing up to fly a privately-developed SpaceX Dragon capsule into orbit this year.  These photos chronicle their recent training.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was transferred from its assembly building to the pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today for Friday’s launch of NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M that directly supports the International Space Station and various science missions.