Photos: Atlas 5 powers away with NROL-61 payload

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Thursday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Inmarsat 5 F4 communications satellite into orbit 32 minutes later.

Indian engineers hope to launch the country’s first robotic lunar lander between July 9 and July 16 on India’s most powerful rocket, the head of the Indian space agency said this week.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries transferred an H-2A rocket to its launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on Sunday, ready to commence a final countdown before liftoff with the Hope Mars mission for the United Arab Emirates.