Video: Atlas 5 rocket launches space station cargo mission

An innovative commercial Capella radar observation spacecraft with night vision and a small payload from the California-based smallsat manufacturer Tyvak are set to ride into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast Saturday with 52 more Starlink internet satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Northrop Grumman is gearing up for up to four launches this year at Wallops Island, Virginia, including two launches with Cygnus cargo ships heading to the International Space Station, and a pair of Minotaur rocket flights carrying classified payloads into orbit for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

A Northrop Grumman Antares launched from Virginia’s Eastern Shore with a commercial Cygnus supply ship Oct. 2 on a two-and-a-half day journey to the International Space Station.