Photos: Atlas 5 fulfills MUOS launch series with fifth successful launch

A new Chinese launch vehicle, the Long March 8, has successfully placed five payloads into orbit on its first mission, debuting an expendable booster intended to eventually be outfitted for recovery and reuse.

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk released the first images of his company’s Falcon Heavy rocket Wednesday, showing the massive triple-core booster almost fully assembled inside its hangar at the Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A, where it is scheduled to lift off some time in January.

Riding a self-propelled transporter, an Orbital ATK Antares rocket rolled out to it launch pad Thursday on Virginia’s Eastern Shore for final preparations to send a Cygnus supply ship to the International Space Station.