Live coverage: SpaceX launches first Falcon 9 mission of the year

Juno left the Earth atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on Aug. 5, 2011, beginning its journey to Jupiter atop the most powerful Atlas variant with five side-mounted boosters. It arrives at the gas giant on Monday.

The ever-dependable Delta 2 rocket continued its flawless service to NASA and Earth sciences Saturday with the launch of a $916 million environmental probe focused on producing global maps of soil moisture from space.

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship packed with fresh food, experiments, and a new toilet for the International Space Station approached the orbiting research lab Monday, two-and-a-half days after launching from Virginia aboard an Antares rocket. Capture of Cygnus with the station’s robotic arm occurred at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT).