Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

A test-firing of a Raptor engine on the latest in a series of Starship test rockets Tuesday night in Texas moved SpaceX closer to performing a low-altitude “hop” to gather data on the vehicle’s launch and landing characteristics.

A Russian Soyuz rocket rolled out to a launch pad in Kazakhstan early Thursday in preparation for liftoff Saturday with a Russian commander, Italian flight engineer and U.S. astronaut heading for the International Space Station.

The final Delta 4 Medium rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 22, 2019, carrying into orbit the U.S. Air Force’s GPS 3 SV02 navigation satellite.