Q&A with Kurt Eberly, Orbital ATK’s Antares deputy program manager

Russia’s Progress MS-06 supply ship launched Wednesday aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on the way to deliver food, fuel, spare parts, oxygen and water to the International Space Station’s crew.

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship returned to to Earth on Sunday with more than 3,800 pounds of NASA cargo, research specimens and other hardware. The commercial capsule was released from the International Space Station’s robotic arm at 4:40 a.m. EDT (0840 GMT), and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California occurred at approximately 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT).

The last of Japan’s first series of HTV supply ships departed the International Space Station on Tuesday with several tons of trash, old batteries, and unneeded equipment, heading for a destructive re-entry before the debut of an upgraded cargo freighter design.