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

Taking aim on the International Space Station, nine kerosene-burning rocket engines powered a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher into a clear sky over Florida’s Space Coast on Friday night to begin the final flight of the first version of the company’s Dragon cargo ship.

The Cargo Dragon spacecraft, tail number C209, will carry 6,659 lbs. (3,021 kg.) of science and supplies to the orbiting outpost. Liftoff from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center happened Monday, April 21, at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 UTC).

In a rapid-fire crew rotation, a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are packing up for the trip back to Earth Saturday, leaving the International Space Station just eight days after the arrival of another three-person crew and three weeks before their own replacements arrive to boost the lab’s crew back to six.