Photos: Falcon takes flight

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Medium+ (5,4) rocket lifted off Wednesday at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) from Cape Canaveral to deploy the latest craft for the U.S. military’s Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite constellation.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched shortly after midnight Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with Hispasat 30W-6, a communications satellite heading for a position more than 22,000 miles over the equator to serve markets in Europe, North Africa and the Americas.

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley completed their final training sessions in Houston this week before their scheduled May 27 liftoff on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center, the first launch of humans from the Florida spaceport since 2011.