Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship packed with fresh food, experiments, and a new toilet for the International Space Station approached the orbiting research lab Monday, two-and-a-half days after launching from Virginia aboard an Antares rocket. Capture of Cygnus with the station’s robotic arm occurred at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT).

The scheduled launch Saturday of two commercial BlackSky Earth-imaging satellites from New Zealand will double as an opportunity for Rocket Lab to test an enhanced heat shield on its Electron booster, an upgrade that should allow the company to recover rockets in better condition for eventual reuse.

United Launch Alliance, the incumbent leader in U.S. rocketry, goes for its 100th flight Friday, a milestone nine years in the making after eclectic missions to Mars, the moon and Jupiter, and deployments of commercial, military and reconnaissance spacecraft.