STS-135: The final shuttle launch

It’s one thing to watch a spouse blast off on a rocketship, especially when the spacecraft is making its first flight with people on board. But it’s altogether another matter when the anxious spouse is an astronaut as well.

A new four-stage rocket operated by the Chinese launch company Galactic Energy succeeded on its inaugural flight Saturday, delivering a data relay microsatellite to an orbit 300 miles above Earth.

On its second test flight Tuesday, Astra’s privately-developed small satellite launcher ran out of fuel seconds before reaching the velocity needed to enter orbit but exceeded the company’s expectations with an otherwise-successful climb into space from Kodiak Island, Alaska.