Video: Soyuz MS-01 leaves the space station for landing

Two Russian cosmonauts floated outside the International Space Station Thursday for a planned six-hour spacewalk to manually launch five small satellites, to test a variety of spacesuit upgrades, to retrieve an external experiment and to carry out routine inspections and maintenance.

NASA has agreed to allow its astronauts to fly on reused Crew Dragon spaceships and Falcon 9 boosters beginning as soon as SpaceX’s third launch of a crew to the International Space Station, a mission expected to launch next year.

A Russian space freighter that failed to deliver supplies to the International Space Station last week is due to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere as soon as Thursday.