Watch replays of the Orion inflight abort test

A Moroccan military reconnaissance satellite secretly built in France lifted off Tuesday night aboard a European Vega rocket in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch occurred at 8:42 p.m. EST (0142 GMT).

SpaceX’s first full-size stainless steel Starship test vehicle stands some 164 feet tall and measures wider than the cabin of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. If Elon Musk has his way, it will fly to an altitude of 65,000 feet before the end of the year.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft ran out of fuel Wednesday and stopped transmitting to Earth, ending an 11-year mission that explored the two largest objects in the asteroid belt and set several records in the annals of space history.