Space Station

Outgoing space station commander Sergei Prokopyev and his two Soyuz crewmates, co-pilot Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, packed up Tuesday for a fiery plunge back to Earth early Wednesday to close out a yearlong stay in orbit, the longest flight in U.S. space history.

Blazing like a shooting star as it streaked high above northern Florida, a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carried four space station fliers back to Earth early Monday, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville to wrap up a six-month stay in orbit.

The members of Crew 6 undocked from the International Space Station aboard SpaceX Dragon Endeavour at 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 UTC). The capsule splashed down off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida at 12:17 a.m. EDT (0417 UTC) on Monday.

SpaceX Dragon Endurance docked with the International Space Station at 9:16 a.m. EDT (1316 UTC) this morning. The spacecraft carried an international crew of four, representing four different nations to begin a six-month mission.

A Russian Progress cargo ship blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday at 9:08 p.m. EDT (0108 UTC on Aug. 23) carrying supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.

SpaceX test fired a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday ahead of Friday’s planned 3:50 a.m. EDT (0750 UTC) liftoff on the Crew 7 mission to the International Space Station.

The next four crew members bound for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station flew to the Kennedy Space Center Sunday to prepare for launch early Friday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.