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

Christina Koch, veteran of six spacewalks outside the International Space Station — including the first all-female excursion — joined a Russian commander and an Italian flight engineer for a fiery plunge to landing in frigid Kazakhstan early Thursday, setting a new record for the longest single flight by a female.

Engineers from Boeing and a team of subcontractors have finished building the first pair of six new solar arrays to bolster the International Space Station’s aging electrical system ahead of their launch to the orbiting outpost as soon as May aboard SpaceX’s next Cargo Dragon mission.

Commander Mike Hopkins and his three crewmates will board their Crew Dragon “Resilience” capsule Monday for a first-time maneuver to relocate the SpaceX-owned spaceship to a new docking port outside the International Space Station.