Photos: Delta 4-Heavy launch as seen from press site

A Russian Soyuz rocket rolled out to a launch pad in Kazakhstan early Thursday in preparation for liftoff Saturday with a Russian commander, Italian flight engineer and U.S. astronaut heading for the International Space Station.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with 10 new satellites for Iridium’s upgraded communications network in low Earth orbit.

The Airbus-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft has been closed up inside the payload fairing of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in preparation for liftoff from Cape Canaveral in February on a joint mission between the European Space Agency and NASA.