Video: Change of command aboard International Space Station

A commercial module mounted outside the International Space Station last year will remain attached to the orbiting research complex for at least three more years, carrying out additional tests for future space habitats and serving as a storage closet for the lab’s crew.

Astronaut Scott Kelly, re-adapting to gravity, people and wide open spaces after a record 340 days cooped up aboard the International Space Station, said Friday his muscles and joints are a bit sore — “just about all of ’em” — his skin is surprisingly sensitive and “I never felt completely normal up there.”

These photos chronicle the activities of Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Jack Fischer on Thursday as they prepared for liftoff on a Soyuz rocket to begin an expedition of more than four months on the International Space Station.