Photos: Delta 4 awaits blastoff

NASA expects to select commercial contractors to resupply the International Space Station in September, three months later than the agency’s previous timetable under a competition for cargo deliveries beginning in 2018.

A top secret cargo for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency soared into orbit from Cape Canaveral at the tip of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket Friday night, successfully debuting a new solid-fueled booster design that ULA says are cheaper and easier to handle than previous strap-on motors.

Two more Chinese Beidou navigation satellites successfully lifted off aboard a Long March 3B rocket Monday on China’s seventh space launch in five weeks.