Launch of the Curiosity Mars rover

NASA held a pre-launch briefing for the Parker Solar Probe mission on Thursday, August 9, 2018, at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Falcon Eye 1 military reconnaissance satellite for the United Arab Emirates is set to ride a Vega launcher into a 379-mile-high (611-kilometer) orbit Wednesday night from French Guiana on a mission that will take less than one hour from liftoff until spacecraft separation.

Check out photos of Wednesday’s launch of a Russian Rockot booster, derived from a decommissioned Soviet-era nuclear missile, with Europe’s Sentinel 3B Earth observation satellite.