Q&A with Michel Denis, ExoMars flight director

Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the rest of the year.

A Russian Soyuz rocket fired off a launch pad in French Guiana Monday evening with satellite missions to monitor Earth’s environment, test Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and inspire the next generation of space engineers.

NASA’s robotic InSight spacecraft, carrying a pair of European-built science instruments, successfully landed Monday on a broad, flat equatorial Martian plain named Elysium Planitia. Touchdown was confirmed at 2:54 p.m. EST (1954 GMT) to begin a science mission focused on studying the deep interior of Mars.