Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

In this time-lapse video, the Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon atop rolls to launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for the first time on January 3. The rocket was then lifted vertical for a series of fit checks and tests.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, French-born European Space Agency flight engineer Thomas Pesquet and veteran NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson put on their Sokol spacesuits, boarded their Soyuz capsule and blasted into orbit Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Check out photos of their launch day activities.

A Chinese Long March 4C rocket launched Tuesday with a new polar-orbiting weather observatory named Fengyun 3D, replacing an aging satellite for the China Meteorological Administration.