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

Nearly four weeks after its arrival at the International Space Station, a SpaceX Dragon supply ship departed the research lab Saturday and dropped out of orbit for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles. The Dragon capsule was released from the station’s robotic arm at 4:58 a.m. EST (0958 GMT), and splashdown occurred at approximately 10:36 a.m. EST (1536 GMT).

A Soyuz rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:55 a.m. EST (0655 GMT) Sunday with the Arktika-M 1 spacecraft, the first in a new line of Russian satellites designed to provide weather observations over the Arctic.

SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew on a flight to the International Space Station Saturday, along with supplies and a pair of empty seats for two Starliner astronauts waiting to hitch a ride home in February after an unexpected eight-and-a-half-month stay in orbit.