Watch our interview with two International Space Station astronauts

A Chinese startup named OneSpace could test its first full-scale launcher as soon as Wednesday in a bid to become China’s first privately-funded rocket company to place a satellite in orbit around the Earth.

A new Russian navigation satellite lifted off Saturday on top of a Soyuz rocket, riding the three-stage booster and a Fregat upper stage into orbit to supplement the country’s Glonass network providing precise global positioning and timing services.

The main engine rumbling to life. Ice shards breaking free. The rocket lumbering off the pad. The battle against gravity being won once again. That was the scene as the Atlas 5 took flight to cap a generation of Global Positioning System satellites.