NASA’s robotic InSight spacecraft, carrying a pair of European-built science instruments, successfully landed Monday on a broad, flat equatorial Martian plain named Elysium Planitia. Touchdown was confirmed at 2:54 p.m. EST (1954 GMT) to begin a science mission focused on studying the deep interior of Mars.

The Delta 4 rocket that will launch the U.S. military’s highest capacity communications satellite ever built was rolled to the pad this week.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral today at 7:42 p.m. EST (0042 GMT) to deploy the U.S. military’s SBIRS GEO Flight 3 observatory, equipped with advanced telescopic infrared vision to spot enemy missile launches, for early warning surveillance.