Video: Falcon 9 stands at the launch pad

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship rocketed into orbit from Virginia Friday night on an Antares launcher, taking aim on the International Space Station with an advanced $23 million zero-gravity titanium toilet and several tons of other gear.

A winged Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket dropped from the belly of a carrier jet off the east coast of Florida and fired into orbit Thursday with eight research satellites to fly around the tropics and return measurements of winds at the cores of hurricanes.

During a visit to Cape Canaveral this week, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken strapped in to the SpaceX crew capsule they will ride into orbit as soon as mid-to-late May. Next week, the astronauts will be in Houston to continue training for an extended stay on the International Space Station that could last two-to-three months.