Live coverage: Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth

An International Launch Services Proton rocket launched at 7:16 p.m. EST Sunday (0016 GMT Monday) with the Yamal 401 communications satellite for Gazprom Space Systems. The rocket’s Breeze M upper stage will deploy the spacecraft into geostationary orbit about nine hours after liftoff.

Russian commander Oleg Kononenko, Canadian co-pilot David Saint-Jacques and NASA flight engineer Anne McClain closed out a 204-day mission in orbit Monday with an undocking from the International Space Station at 7:25 p.m. EDT (2325 GMT), followed by landing in Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz MS-11 capsule at 10:47 p.m. EDT (0247 GMT Tuesday).

NASA is announcing the astronauts who will fly the first crewed test flights of the SpaceX Dragon 2 and Boeing Starliner capsules next year. The event at the Johnson Space Center is due to get underway at 11am EDT (1500 GMT).