Photos: More shots of Delta 4 liftoff

NASA held a pre-launch briefing for the Parker Solar Probe mission on Thursday, August 9, 2018, at the Kennedy Space Center.

What began as a concept scribbled on a cocktail napkin in a Tucson bar 12 years ago — sending a spacecraft to an asteroid and retrieving a pristine sample to bring back to Earth for study — becomes reality Thursday with the launch of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.

India launched the 40th Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle mission Friday carrying an Earth observation satellite and 30 secondary payloads from 15 nations. Liftoff occurred at 0359 GMT Friday (11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday).