Photos: Sun sets on Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral

Firing into space from the historic Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a Russian Proton rocket guided a European television broadcast satellite into orbit Saturday. Check out photos of the Proton rocket’s nighttime liftoff with the Astra 2G satellite.

SpaceX is set to close out a record-breaking 2017 launch campaign Friday night with the delivery of 10 more Iridium voice and data relay satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Hobbyists who keep track of the skies with remarkable precision have found the U.S. Air Force’s mini space shuttle in its no-longer-secret orbit around the Earth.