Time-lapse: Watch the Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 roll to the launch pad (members only)

The first 10 spacecraft for a planned U.S. military mega-constellation launched from California Sunday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, setting in place the keystone for a multibillion-dollar network of hundreds of small satellites to improve defenses against hypersonic missiles and other emerging threats.

China has launched its 10th space mission of the year, deploying three civilian-operated Earth observation satellites with cameras to help monitor natural disasters, survey natural resources and assist in infrastructure planning.

Engineers plan to test small modifications to a payload shroud on a European Ariane 5 rocket launch Friday from French Guiana, gathering data on changes introduced to meet stringent criteria for the launch of the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope in late 2021.