Time-lapse: The Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon roll to the launch pad (members only)

The newly re-activated National Space Council is acting quickly to streamline convoluted regulatory requirements that frequently slow development of new commercial space initiatives, a shift in focus in keeping with the Trump Administration’s directive to encourage more private sector development on the high frontier.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will boost NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M, or TDRS-M, into space from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 18 at 8:03 a.m. EDT (1203 GMT).

A full-scale model of Virgin Orbit’s air-dropped small satellite launcher, filled with water and antifreeze instead of rocket fuel, dropped from the wing of a modified Boeing 747 carrier jet Wednesday over a test range at Edwards Air Force Base in California, paving the way for the company’s first space mission later this year.