Video: Falcon 9 test-fired before fourth Starlink launch (members only)

A small satellite assembled in Britain has been released from the International Space Station, commencing a standalone mission to test technology and techniques that could be used to capture and de-orbit space junk in low Earth orbit.

A suborbital rocket booster built by Blue Origin, an entrepreneurial space firm founded by Internet tycoon Jeff Bezos, streaked into space in the skies over West Texas and descended to a pinpoint propulsive touchdown on a landing pad, the company announced Tuesday.

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket for the second time Saturday after replacing a valve following an earlier static fire test Wednesday. The move has postponed the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch with the Amos 17 commercial communications satellite to no earlier than Tuesday.