A solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia at 9:46 a.m. EDT (1346 GMT) Wednesday. The four-stage rocket, comprised of retired Peacekeeper missile parts, launched on a mission to deliver four classified payloads into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office.

In a fiery, dramatic comeback for SpaceX, a Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral, streaking into orbit as its booster stage returned to a historic landing on Florida’s Space Coast in a key achievement aimed at slashing the cost of space transportation. Eleven communications satellites for Orbcomm were deployed in orbit in the flight’s prime objective.

NASA and industry teams at Cape Canaveral launched an Orion capsule on a three-minute atmospheric test flight Tuesday to prove the spaceship’s ability to escape from an exploding rocket during launch, demonstrating a key safety feature before astronauts ride the vehicle into deep space. Liftoff occurred at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).