Photos: Atlas 5 powers NRO payload into the night

Watch as a Falcon 9 rocket with the first Crew Dragon capsule atop, briefly fired its engines for a crucial pre-launch test on Jan. 24, 2019.

China launched a civilian-operated Earth-observing satellite Tuesday to survey global land and water resources, air pollutants, greenhouse gases and other environmental parameters.

These photos show the stacking of Japan’s eighth H-2B rocket inside an assembly building at the Tanegashima Space Center over the past few weeks, followed by rollout of the 186-foot-tall vehicle to its launch pad Tuesday.