Live coverage: SpaceX crew capsule splashes down in Gulf of Mexico

Three Chinese astronauts departed the Tiangong space station Saturday and landed in the remote Gobi Desert of northwestern China, capping a six-month expedition that included four spacewalks and a host of experiments in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit.

NASA will hand over control of the Kennedy Space Center’s disused space shuttle landing strip to the state of Florida on June 22 in a major step toward repurposing the three-mile-long runway for future spacecraft, officials said Monday.

A Falcon 9 rocket is lifted into position for a planned countdown dress rehearsal at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The rocket is being readied for launch early Sunday with the EchoStar 23 communications satellite.