Photos: Delta 4 rocket fires off the pad before sunset

Watch a view of the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 7 from Cape Canaveral with the U.S. government’s top secret Zuma payload.

An air-launched rocket built by Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit reached orbit Sunday for the first time, delivering 10 experimental CubeSats for NASA and positioning the company for the start of commercial operations.

Hours after arriving in orbit, Dragon astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken completed their first manual flight test using touchscreen controls on the SpaceX’s new crew capsule, and revealed “Endeavour” as the name of their ship.