Orbital ATK ground crews in Virginia are fueling the next Cygnus cargo freighter this week for launch toward the International Space Station in mid-October on the first flight of the company’s upgraded Antares rocket in two years.

Eight days after a dramatic spacewalk to inspect the site of a leak in the hull of his Soyuz ferry ship, Russian commander Sergey Prokopyev, German flight engineer Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor geared up to depart the International Space Station Wednesday for a fiery plunge back to Earth.

After a four-day delay due to a ground power supply anomaly and unfavorable weather, an Ariane 5 rocket lifted off at 4:23 p.m. EST (2123 GMT) Tuesday to send into orbit a hush-hush communications satellite for the Egyptian military and a spacecraft to expand the capacity of Inmarsat’s mobile Internet service.