Video: Delta 2/SMAP pre-launch news conference

There were more successful space launches in 2014 than in any year since 1992, with Russia, the United States and China responsible for more than 80 percent of global launch activity.

NASA announced Tuesday it has awarded SpaceX a $331 million contract to launch the first two pieces of the Gateway lunar outpost in 2024 using a modified version of the Falcon Heavy rocket to hurl the massive core of the deep space station toward the moon.

Narrated flow tapes of the United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket and NASA’s SMAP spacecraft for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base.