Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

Two SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches will loft seven high-throughput broadband satellites for SES’s O3b mPower constellation in 2021, SES announced this week.

Nine Merlin engines on the first stage of SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket briefly fired up on a Cape Canaveral launch pad Wednesday, and the launcher cleared a customary pre-flight checkout in preparation for liftoff early Sunday with a Canadian-owned communications satellite.

Riding the rails between its assembly building and the launch pad, an Atlas 5 rocket topped with a clandestine national security satellite was rolled out this morning for Thursday’s liftoff at 4:07 a.m. EDT (0807 GMT).