Time-lapse: Falcon 9 lifted vertical on pad 39A (members only)

The second set of Iridium’s next-generation satellites to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket were prepared for liftoff inside a climate-controlled clean room at Vandenberg Air Force Base over the last few weeks.

Virgin Galactic will conduct the remaining test flights for the company’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital rocket plane from southern New Mexico after moving staff and equipment from California over the next few months, officials announced Friday.

In a breath-taking display at daybreak Wednesday, an Atlas rocket powered an enormous U.S. Navy satellite into space to close the last remaining gap and give global reach to the military’s new mobile communications system.