Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

View photos of Thursday’s spectacular sunset launch from Cape Canaveral of a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket with the U.S. Air Force’s seventh Wideband Global SATCOM communications platform.

Loaded with over 7,300 pounds of goods for the International Space Station, a commercial Cygnus cargo vessel was mounted atop its Atlas 5 rocket booster Friday for launch Dec. 3.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft barreled toward a Fourth of July rendezvous with Jupiter after a 1.7-billion-mile, five-year trip from planet Earth. The research probe’s main engine ignited for 35 minutes to maneuver Juno into orbit, and engineers received confirmation of the burn’s conclusion on time at 11:53 p.m. EDT Monday (0353 GMT Tuesday).