Video: Falcon 9 launch replays

United Launch Alliance placed a new satellite in orbit with a fiery Friday night blastoff from Cape Canaveral, using a version of the Delta 4 rocket that is nearing retirement to supplement a U.S. military network relaying signals from drones and battlefield commanders.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Merah Putih communications satellite into orbit around 32 minutes later.

Three new crew members embarked on a six-month expedition aboard the International Space Station Thursday with a launch from Kazakhstan on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket at 0805 GMT (4:05 a.m. EDT). NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and crewmates Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner docked with the space station at 1413 GMT (10:13 a.m. EDT) Thursday.