Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

Technicians began the painstaking work of assembling a powerful Atlas 5 rocket today, a launcher that will deploy an advanced satellite to substantially improve U.S. weather forecasting.

A Chinese startup named OneSpace could test its first full-scale launcher as soon as Wednesday in a bid to become China’s first privately-funded rocket company to place a satellite in orbit around the Earth.

Arianespace has split its third order of Vega rockets from Italy’s Avio between old and new versions of the solid-fueled booster, as officials prepare to build a final batch of around 18 Ariane 5 rockets before switching to the next-generation Ariane 6 in the early 2020s.