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

The first of up to four Vega rocket launches planned this year lifted off Thursday night from French Guiana carrying the Italian PRISMA hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellite.
The solid-fueled launcher blasted off from the Guiana Space Center at 0150:35 GMT (9:50:35 p.m. EDT).

NASA has selected six companies to work on designs for deep space habitat modules that could be used by astronauts living and working near the moon as technology is developed for eventual flights to Mars, the agency announced Tuesday.

An Air Force missile detection spacecraft will, effectively, lose its position in the Atlas 5 rocket’s cramped manifest over the next few months after the flight-worthiness of a thruster on the satellite was called into question and delayed its Oct. 3 liftoff date.