Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

China launched a Long March 2D rocket Saturday with a satellite Chinese officials claimed will study the space environment and conduct technology demonstrations, less than two days after a Long March 4B rocket took off from a different launch site with an Earth-imaging payload.

Follow the Delta 4 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 launch pad with the U.S. Air Force’s WGS 7 communications satellite.

A commercial mission developed by the Japanese company Astroscale rocketed into space on a Russian Soyuz launcher Monday with 37 other payloads, ready to kick off an orbital “dance” with two small spacecraft demonstrating how satellite sweepers might one day drag junk out of orbit.