July 26, 1971: 45th anniversary of Apollo 15

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.

Thirteen U.S.-built nanosatellites hitched a ride to space Tuesday with a sharp-eyed Indian Earth-imaging observatory at the top of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit with five more Iridium Next communications satellite and the U.S.-German GRACE-Follow On climate research mission.