Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

An experimental satellite for Canon Electronics and nine Earth-imaging CubeSats for Planet fired into orbit from New Zealand on Wednesday on top of a Rocket Lab Electron booster, taking the place of similar spacecraft destroyed in a Rocket Lab launch failure in July.

Peggy Whitson, America’s most experienced astronaut with nearly two years in orbit over three missions, returns to Earth Saturday after an extended 288-day stay aboard the International Space Station, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan with Soyuz MS-04 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA flight engineer Jack Fischer.

Watch live video of launch pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as an Atlas 5 rocket is prepared to launch the ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission. The Atlas 5 rocket will be rolled from it’s Vertical Inegration Building (VIF) to the pad on Saturday morning.