Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

A small spacecraft built for the Russian military lifted off Thursday on top of a modified Soyuz booster, beginning a mission to reportedly test a compact Earth-imaging platform that could be used on future spy satellites.

Three of Planet’s commercial SkySat Earth-imaging spacecraft will ride to space on top of a stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites next month aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, and three more will hitch a ride on another SpaceX mission later this summer.

Dan Hart leads a staff of hundreds of engineers and technicians developing LauncherOne, a commercial air-launched booster intended to hurl small satellites weighing up to 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) into orbit.