Live coverage: Two Russians, one American arrive at space station

Live coverage of the departure of a Japanese cargo craft from the International Space Station. The fifth HTV cargo freighter delivered a 9,500-pound package of food, spare parts and experiments.

SpaceX plans to begin construction of a new rocket and spacecraft next year that could lead to human landings on Mars as early as 2024, scaling up technologies currently being perfected with the company’s Falcon 9 family of boosters to ensure reliability, reusability and, as a result, realistically low costs, founder Elon Musk said Friday.

The first launch of Boeing’s Starliner space capsule aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket has been delayed to Dec. 19, officials announced Tuesday.