This is video footage documenting stacking activities for the two-stage United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 194 feet tall, to boost the commercial Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo freighter to the International Space Station. Activities occurred at Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility.

A Falcon 9 booster fresh from SpaceX’s factory briefly fired its nine Merlin main engines Tuesday on a Cape Canaveral launch pad, passing a key test before liftoff Dec. 4 with a Dragon supply ship heading for the International Space Station.

Without any public warning, a Chinese Long March 4B rocket lifted off Sunday with two “environmental monitoring satellites” that the country’s state media said will replace a pair of spacecraft launched in 2008 that collected data to assist in a series of disaster relief efforts over the last decade.