Video: Atlas/Cygnus pre-launch news conference

A commercial Dragon supply ship loaded with genetically-enhanced mice, a beer brewing experiment, a CubeSat developed by Mexican students and other scientific research payloads arrived at the International Space Station Sunday.

Carrying a sophisticated billion-dollar missile detection satellite for the U.S. military, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday with 1.6 million pounds of thrust from a Russian RD-180 main engine and twin solid rocket boosters.

With the Delta 4 rocket now waiting on the launch pad, its Air Force Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite payload has jetted from the Los Angeles factory to the Cape Canaveral in preparation for liftoff this summer.