Live coverage: Soyuz crew returns to Earth

Amid a Russian spacewalk to carry out routine maintenance and inspections outside the International Space Station, two NASA astronauts and a Japanese crewmate staged a culinary first in orbit — harvesting and eating a few leaves of leafy, space-grown red romaine lettuce.

A total of 11 spacecraft will be deployed beginning about 1.5 hours after liftoff. SpaceX is aiming to launch the mission from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base on July 23 at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT, 1813 UTC).

A Russian Soyuz rocket fired off a launch pad in French Guiana Monday evening with satellite missions to monitor Earth’s environment, test Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and inspire the next generation of space engineers.