Photos: News media shots of the NROL-52 liftoff

Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing subsidiary, built two small satellites awaiting launch Thursday night on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on a mission to test the effectiveness of a drag-inducing device that could help remove spacecraft from orbit.

The head of the launch enterprise directorate at the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, Claire Leon, spoke with reporters March 15 about the military’s award of a GPS launch contract to SpaceX, and she discussed plans for more head-to-head launch contract competitions in the coming months.

Two days after lifting off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Complex 40 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a commercial Dragon supply ship loaded with more than 4,800 pounds of supplies and experiments arrived Sunday at the International Space Station. Capture of the robotic cargo craft occurred at 5:57 a.m. EST (1057 GMT).