Video: Liftoff of Atlas 5 with X-37B on program’s fourth flight

America’s first space shuttle launched on this day 35 years ago as the reusable flying machine, Columbia, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center with John Young and Bob Crippen aboard.

These photos show the fiery liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral on Dec. 10, riding three pillars of flame from its hydrogen-fueled RS-68A main engines.

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off Jan. 24 in a new, intermediate configuration with two strap-on solid rocket boosters, providing a lift capability between the PSLV’s previous variants with zero or six side-mounted rocket motors.