Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

SpaceX has filed a protest challenging a nearly $150 million NASA contract awarded to United Launch Alliance last month to send a robotic asteroid probe into space.

A European Ariane 5 rocket fired into a gloomy sky Thursday over French Guiana and streaked into space from the tropical launch base with 2.9 million pounds of thrust from two solid rocket boosters and a hydrogen-fueled Vulcain 2 main engine.

United Launch Alliance will launch the USSF-106 mission as its first flight for the U.S. Space Force using a Vulcan rocket. The vehicle will carry two satellite missions onboard.