A Dragon supply ship owned and operated by SpaceX departed the International Space Station early Monday and returned to Earth for a predawn splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles with scientific specimens and other equipment. Astronaut Jack Fischer released the Dragon cargo capsule from the station’s robotic arm at 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT), and splashdown occurred around 8:12 a.m. EDT (1212 GMT).

Clad in pressurized spacesuits, two Russian cosmonauts headed outside the International Space Station on Wednesday and hand-released four tiny CubeSats and installed hardware for a German experiment to track animal migration.

A Russian Progress supply ship launched Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, firing into orbit from a snow-covered pad to haul three tons of fuel, water and equipment to the International Space Station.