Video: Highlights of second Expedition 50 spacewalk

Leaving crewmate Peggy Whitson behind in orbit for an extended mission, a Russian cosmonaut and his French co-pilot undocked from the International Space Station early Friday and plunged back to Earth, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 196-day mission.

Two astronauts plan to venture outside the International Space Station Friday, taking over from earlier robotic arm operations to help replace a set of batteries used to store power from one of the lab’s four sets of solar arrays.

Two spacewalkers attached a new docking port to the International Space Station Friday, clearing the way for U.S. crew ferry ships being built by Boeing and SpaceX to begin test flights to the lab complex next year.