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

Four satellites tucked inside the tip of a Soyuz rocket lifted off Thursday, heading for a 5,000-mile-high orbit to expand the reach of O3b’s broadband communications network. Liftoff from the European-run spaceport in French Guiana occurred at 1:37 p.m. EST (1837 GMT).

Arianespace plans 11 launches from French Guiana this year, including eight flights by the heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket with up to a dozen large telecommunications satellites and four spacecraft for Europe’s Galileo navigation system.

Veteran cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and rookie flight engineer Jack Fischer streaked into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz ferry craft Thursday, chased down the International Space Station and glided to a smooth docking to complete a six-hour rendezvous.