Live coverage: Soyuz crew lands in Kazakhstan

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft were lowered horizontal on pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center the day before launch, allowing teams to address an issue with a chilled water loop near the top of the strongback structure.

Two American astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut boarded their Soyuz MS-06 landing craft for a homecoming Tuesday night, U.S. time, concluding 168 days in orbit. The trio undocked from the International Space Station at 5:08 p.m. EST (2208 GMT), and landed on the snowy steppe of Kazakhstan at 9:31 p.m. EST (0231 GMT Wednesday).

Topped with Australian and Indian communications satellites, an Ariane 5 rocket successfully flew into orbit from the jungle of French Guiana on Wednesday. Liftoff occurred at 2030 GMT (4:30 p.m. EDT).