Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

A Moroccan military reconnaissance satellite secretly built in France lifted off Tuesday night aboard a European Vega rocket in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch occurred at 8:42 p.m. EST (0142 GMT).

This photo gallery shows the U.S. Navy’s Mobile User Objective System communications satellite No. 4 being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing for the planned Aug. 31 liftoff.

Twenty-eight thousand students across the United States submitted essays and proposed names for NASA’s newest Mars rover and on Thursday, the agency announced the winner: Perseverance, submitted by Virginia seventh-grader Alexander Mather.