Video: Falcon 9 launch as seen from KSC press site (members only)

Three robotic Mars missions launched from Earth last month have begun fine-tuning their trajectories through the solar system with the first in a series mid-course corrections to take aim on the Red Planet for arrival next February.

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket, standing 235 feet tall and weighing 1.6 million pounds fully fueled, unleashes 2.1 million pounds of thrust from the three RS-68A main engines at 1:51 p.m. EDT (1751 GMT) today to launch from Cape Canaveral on NROL-37.

Boeing and SpaceX hope to launch commercial crew ferry ships on long-awaited test flights later this year, but both companies face major challenges getting the spacecraft certified before late 2019 when seats aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft will no longer be easily available for NASA space station crews, officials told lawmakers Wednesday.