Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

A pair of Earth-imaging satellites for the Italian military and a French-Israeli environmental monitoring project lifted off from French Guiana aboard a European Vega rocket at 0158:33 GMT Wednesday (9:58:33 p.m. EDT Tuesday).

Up to 24 launches are planned from Cape Canaveral in 2015, thanks to jam-packed manifests for SpaceX and United Launch Alliance to send up satellites for the U.S. military, NASA and commercial telecom operators.

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins launched today in 1969 aboard Apollo 11 for one of the defining moments of the 20th century — man’s first landing on the moon.