Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

Preparations for the planned liftoff Thursday of a SpaceX Dragon capsule with a four-person crew to the International Space Station cleared another readiness review Tuesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but officials are tracking marginal wind and sea conditions in downrange abort zones in the Atlantic Ocean that could force a launch delay.

Three Chinese military satellites and a civilian data relay payload launched Thursday aboard a Long March 2C rocket.

A Russian-built Soyuz rocket launched Tuesday from the Guiana Space Center on the northeastern coast of South America, boosting Europe’s MetOp-C satellite into orbit to benefit weather forecasters worldwide and closing out a generation of weather-observing technology.