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

A Russian Soyuz booster places the Progress 64P autonomous cargo ship into orbit for a two-day journey to deliver 5,300 pounds of fuel, water and supplies to the International Space Station.

These photos were taken on Wednesday, Dec. 2, approximately 24 hours before the scheduled liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 with Orbital ATK’s commercial Cygnus cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.

An all-new SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines Friday night on launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, the opening act in a busy weekend of SpaceX launch preps leading up to a pair of blastoffs Sunday and Tuesday from California’s Central Coast and Florida’s Space Coast, respectively.