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

The Russian Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft and booster rocket were rolled out to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Monday in preparation for liftoff Thursday at 3:20 p.m. EST (2020 GMT) on a two-day trek to the International Space Station.

A video from SpaceX shows the company’s Crew Dragon capsule plunging toward the Gulf of Mexico, then unfurling a series of parachutes to slow the spaceship carrying two NASA astronauts from 350 mph to a relatively gentle 15 mph for splashdown Sunday.

Two weeks after a launch pad fire forced a delay, a Japanese H-2B rocket lifted off Tuesday with an HTV cargo freighter to deliver upgraded batteries, experiments and provisions to the International Space Station. Liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Center occurred at 1605 GMT (12:05 p.m. EDT) Tuesday.