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

Departing Expedition 49 Commander Anatoly Ivanishin hands over International Space Station command to NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.

A new Russian weather satellite, a CubeSat to test a Silicon Valley startup’s water-based propulsion system, and eight more members of Spire’s commercial fleet of multipurpose nanosatellites were among 33 spacecraft that rode a Soyuz rocket into orbit Friday from Russia’s Far East.

A Soyuz rocket launched Friday with four commercial satellites to expand broadband Internet coverage in remote parts of the world, climbing into orbit from the Guiana Space Center positioned on the northeastern shore of South America.