Photos: America’s 100th EELV blasts off

A roster of representatives from the commercial space industry, astronauts, retired military officers and politicians will advise the National Space Council as the top-level government panel seeks to reshape U.S. space policy, regulations and exploration strategies.

An Atlas 5 rocket lifts off in the early morning Sun from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral carrying a top secret satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. (Membership required)

Four satellites set to join O3b’s expanding broadband network successfully launched Friday on top of a Russian-built Soyuz booster from French Guiana, joining 12 other craft linking developing nations, far-flung islands, cruise ships and other hard-to-reach locales with the Internet.