Stats: Delta 4 history and manifest

NASA’s newest observatory in space has started its search for planets around other stars, officials said Friday, as astronomers zero in on worlds that are ripe for research by follow-up missions like the James Webb Space Telescope.

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket went through a practice countdown and fueling exercise today to prepare for its Dec. 7 liftoff to deliver a U.S. military communications satellite into space.

Space missions dispatched into the solar system often have journeys lasting years before reaching a scientific payoff, but NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched last weekend on a speedy departure from planet Earth is already getting ready to sweep closer to the sun than any spacecraft in history during a flyby later this year.