Falcon 9

Live coverage: Multinational crew docks at space station

A multinational crew from the United States, Japan, and Russia launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) Wednesday in pursuit of the International Space Station. The four-person crew rode a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to docking at the space station at 5:01 p.m. EDT (2101 GMT) Thursday to begin a five-month science expedition.

Falcon 9

Russian cosmonaut set to ride U.S. crew capsule to International Space Station

Cosmonaut Anna Kikina will become the first Russian crew member to launch on a U.S. spacecraft since 2002 when she straps into a seat aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Endurance capsule Wednesday for a flight to the International Space Station, opening a new chapter in the U.S.-Russian partnership in orbit that a senior Russian space agency official hopes can be extended past the current end date of 2024, despite souring relations on Earth.

Falcon 9

Live coverage: Crew dress rehearsal, SpaceX static fire completed Sunday

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Saturday to begin the final few days of launch preparations before they depart on a five-month expedition on the International Space Station. The crew completed a a dress rehearsal Sunday, when they boarded the Dragon spacecraft on launch pad 39A to practice for launch day. SpaceX followed that with a test-firing of the Falcon 9’s main engines at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT).

Mission Reports

Live coverage: Russian cosmonauts land in Kazakhstan

Three Russian cosmonauts rode a Soyuz spacecraft back to Earth Thursday after departing the International Space Station to wrap up 195 days. The Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft carrying cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov undocked from the station at 3:34 a.m. EDT (0734 GMT) and landed at 6:57 a.m. EDT (1057 GMT).