Live coverage: Space station crew safely returns to Earth

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 5:49 a.m. local time (8:49 a.m. EDT; 1249 GMT) Thursday on the classified National Reconnaissance Office NROL-55 mission.

A Russian automated cargo craft loaded with nearly three tons of fuel, supplies, water and air is set for launch from Kazakhstan at 2141 GMT Saturday on a mission to replenish stockpiles aboard the International Space Station.

The first of up to four Vega rocket launches planned this year lifted off Thursday night from French Guiana carrying the Italian PRISMA hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellite.
The solid-fueled launcher blasted off from the Guiana Space Center at 0150:35 GMT (9:50:35 p.m. EDT).