Video: Change of command aboard International Space Station

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke will take command of the orbiting outpost as Expedition 74 begins with the undocking of Soyuz MS-27 on Monday, Dec. 8. The International Space Station is set to be de-orbited around 2030 or soon thereafter.

Three crewmen from Russia, the United States and Great Britain blasted off toward the International Space Station on Tuesday, rocketing into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in pursuit of the orbiting research lab.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 194 feet tall and and weighing 720,000 pounds, generates 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine to launch the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship on the OA-7 mission to the International Space Station.