Mission Reports

Live coverage: Space station crew back on Earth

Outgoing space station commander Randy Bresnik, joined by Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy and European Space Agency flight engineer Paolo Nespoli, returned to Earth early Thursday after nearly five months in orbit. Their Soyuz MS-05 capsule undocked from the International Space Station at 12:14 a.m. EST (0514 GMT), and landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan at 3:37 a.m. EST (0837 GMT).

Mission Reports

Live coverage: Cygnus supply ship readied for station departure

After a 22-day stay at the International Space Station, an Orbital ATK Cygnus supply ship is set for departure Wednesday en route to a higher orbit for release of 14 CubeSats for commercial weather monitoring and technology demonstrations. The robotic Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled for release from the station’s robotic arm at 8:10 a.m. EST (1310 GMT) Wednesday.

Falcon 9

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket launch put on hold

SpaceX has postponed the launch of its next Falcon 9 rocket indefinitely. The rocket was originally scheduled take off Wednesday from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a top secret U.S. government payload named Zuma. A few minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return for a landing at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.