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

Calling on the Atlas 5 rocket to flex its muscles one more time, Orbital ATK will partner with United Launch Alliance once again to send a massive load of supplies to the International Space Station astronauts early next year.

Two U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut, all spaceflight veterans, launched from Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz booster Wednesday to begin a two-day pursuit of the International Space Station. The crew docked with the orbiting research complex Friday at 1940 GMT (3:40 p.m. EDT) to begin a five-month stay.

NASA has a builder to construct a five-ton spacecraft to catch up with the aging Landsat 7 Earth observation satellite and refuel it in 2020, employing robotic tools mastered in years of rehearsals on the International Space Station.