Video: Falcon 9 rocket fires engines in pre-launch test (members only)

China launched its second space mission in less than 24 hours Tuesday, sending a Beidou navigation satellite toward an orbital perch around 22,000 miles above Earth.

An Indian rocket lifted off with two British-built Earth-imaging satellites at 1638 GMT (12:38 p.m. EDT) Sunday — one developed with the financial backing of the UK government to demonstrate radar reconnaissance technology, and another destined for use by a commercial imaging company in Asia.

A thick marine layer blanketing Vandenberg Air Force Base in California restricted views of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifting off early Wednesday, but cameras fixed to the launcher provided spectacular imagery of the predawn departure with 10 Iridium satellites on-board.