Video: Change of command aboard International Space Station

With one last task to carry out, a space station Cygnus cargo ship loaded with trash and no-longer-needed equipment fell back to Earth Wednesday, hitting the discernible atmosphere 60 miles or so above the Pacific Ocean at nearly 5 miles per second.

A Japanese H-2B rocket launched toward the International Space Station on Friday with a fresh set of high-power batteries, critical parts for the research lab’s carbon dioxide scrubber, and several tons of food, water and provisions.

This photo gallery shows the commercial Cygnus cargo resupplier for the International Space Station on Monday at Kennedy Space Center being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing for the planned Dec. 3 liftoff.