Live coverage: Soyuz crew returns to Earth

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy’s family will be watching remotely from halfway around the world when he blasts off April 9 from Kazakhstan to begin a six-month expedition on the International Space Station.

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.

The threat from Hurricane Nicole churning toward a tracking station in Bermuda will keep Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket from launching on a space station cargo run until at least Sunday, officials said Tuesday.