Q&A with Keith Gendreau, principal investigator of the first X-ray space communications experiment (members only)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 197 feet tall and and weighing 1.2 million pounds, unleashes 2.4 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and four solid-fuel boosters at 6:42 p.m. EST (2342 GMT) Saturday to launch the GOES-R weather observer for NASA and NOAA from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Russia launched a military communications satellite Wednesday, sending a data relay and broadcasting station to an orbit more than 22,000 miles above the equator aboard a Proton rocket and a Breeze M upper stage.

The Starlink 10-30 mission will add 28 more satellites to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 3:57 a.m. EDT (0757 UTC) on Monday.