Photos: America’s 100th EELV blasts off

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket, standing 206 feet tall and and weighing 720,000 pounds, unleashes 1.1 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and two side-mounted boosters at 12:52 a.m. EDT (0452 today to launch the GSSAP No. 3 and No. 4 satellites for the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program from Cape Canaveral.

The cohort of ten women and men will train for the next two years to become eligible for mission assignments to low Earth orbit and beyond. This is the first astronaut candidate class to consist of more women than men.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted China’s Chang’e 4 lander and rover on the far side of the moon in new images, as the Chinese robots explore the floor of Von Kármán crater.