Live coverage: Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth

A SpaceX Dragon capsule is wrapping up a month-long mission Saturday. The spaceship departed the International Space Station at 9:23 a.m. EDT (1323 GMT), and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at approximately 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) with nearly two tons of experiment specimens and hardware, including a habitat of mice and Robonaut 2, an experimental humanoid robot in need of repairs.

An Ariane 5 rocket lifted off Thursday at 2345 GMT (7:45 p.m. EDT), flying from a French Guiana launch pad to geostationary transfer orbit with the ViaSat 2 and Eutelsat 172B communications satellites.

For the second time in less than a week, China has debuted a new type of rocket designed to broaden the scope of the country’s Long March launcher family. This time a solid-fueled booster named the Long March 11 blasted out of a mobile launch canister with four Chinese tech demo satellites.