Here is a rundown of how NASA is resuming space missions from US soil. Two astronauts will take off next Wednesday atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, bound for the International Space Station (ISS)
Under usual circumstances, the departing crew would face questions from a large press pack before being waved off by family and friends. Neither were present this time round because of restrictions
There also are 120,000 roundworms, or nematodes of a beneficial variety that are part of an agricultural study.
Their voyages are scheduled to begin next year, and they would be the first American astronauts to launch from United States soil since 2011
NASA plans to open the station to commercial business, including tourism
The rocket blasted off without incident from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and docked at the ISS less than six hours later, more than 400 kilometers (249 miles) above the Earth at 05:31 I
The station has allowed international crews -- notably in collaboration with the Canadian, European and Japanese space agencies -- to pursue scientific research in the environment of a low Earth orbit
Three US astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and a Japanese astronaut will go into the last weekend of 2017 with light duty and family conferences before taking New Year's Day off
For 16 years, astronauts have been working, living on ISS, structure made up of 15 connected modules