Video: Atlas/Cygnus pre-launch news conference

In a mission marking the end of an era, NASA astronaut and former virus hunter Kate Rubins, using NASA’s last currently contracted seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, blasts off Wednesday with two cosmonaut crewmates on a flight to the International Space Station.

Three inert Peacekeeper missile stages have been stacked at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 46 pad, demonstrating the techniques that will be used to assemble a Minotaur 4 rocket to launch an experimental space surveillance satellite this summer.

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit with the fourth set of 10 next-generation satellites for Iridium’s voice and data relay fleet.