The six station residents are busy with international research that can only be conducted in space while still providing Earth-bound benefits. Expedition 38 is also preparing for supplies to be delivered in February on a Russian resupply ship and a private SpaceX cargo craft.

NASA commercial partner Orbital Sciences Corporation launched its Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard the Antares rocket at 1:07 p.m. EST Thursday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia for the Orbital-1 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.

› Complete coverage of Cygnus at http://www.nasa.gov/orbital

At the time of launch the station was flying about 260 miles over the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Brazil.