Live coverage: Vega rocket deploys second Sentinel satellite

Flight controllers at NASA’s mission control center in Houston have completed the robotic swap out of a failed power distribution unit outside the International Space Station, clearing a hurdle ahead of Friday’s predawn launch from Cape Canaveral of a SpaceX supply ship.

SpaceX launched of a Falcon 9 rocket at 6:01 a.m. EDT (1001 GMT) Sunday with the company’s next 60 Starlink internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s reusable first stage, making its ninth flight to space, successfully landed on a drone ship positioned offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.

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.