Q&A with Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer at SES

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship departed the International Space Station on Wednesday, fired rocket thrusters to brake out of orbit, and parachuted to a picture-perfect splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with approximately 3,461 pounds of experiment samples and equipment.

The escalating wildfire at Vandenberg Air Force Base grew even larger Monday despite the round-the-clock efforts of firefighters trying to bring the blaze under control before it threatens United Launch Alliance and SpaceX launch pads used by Atlas 5, Delta 4 and Falcon 9 rockets.

Launch of the Starlink 11-9 mission carrying 27 satellites for SpaceX’s internet service slipped a day from Sunday to Monday. Liftoff from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 1:42 p.m. PDT (4:42 p.m. EDT, 2042 UTC).