Photos: Falcon 9 launch from Press Site

A mysterious small satellite built by the German company OHB, purported to be a pathfinder for a Chinese-owned communications constellation, took off from New Zealand Wednesday and soared into orbit on top of a Rocket Lab Electron launcher.

A new European weather satellite is ready for launch Tuesday night aboard a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana, and these photos illustrate the final weeks of the spacecraft’s launch campaign.

The attachment of a mounting bracket for Virgin Orbit’s smallsat launcher under the wing of a modified passenger jetliner portends the start of a series of captive carry tests with a full-scale model of the rocket, culminating in a drop of the vehicle before the first orbital launch attempt.