Riding nearly a million pounds of thrust, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian crewmates Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner rocketed into orbit April 9 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome en route to the International Space Station.

This media briefing comes as NASA is potentially within a week of making its final decision on how to bring the Starliner CFT crew home. The agency is debating on if Starliner is determined to be safe or if NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmroe and Sunita “Sunni” Williams will return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

The dream of a self-sufficient space-faring civilization moved a step closer to reality as a commercial 3D printer was installed aboard the International Space Station for a tryout in orbit.