Video: Missile alert satellite launches atop Atlas 5

After receiving more than $150 million in U.S. military funding to design and develop a reusable winged spaceplane named Phantom Express, Boeing said Wednesday it is ending its work on the vehicle, effectively killing a program military officials hoped would offer regular, reduced-cost launch opportunities for small satellites.

Five commercial Earth-imaging satellites rode a Long March 11 rocket into orbit Thursday from the Jiuquan space base in northwestern China.

A communications satellite destined to serve the Indian military is set to blast off from the country’s east coast Wednesday aboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle on the seventh and last launch of the year for the Indian space program.