Photos: California’s predawn liftoff of Atlas 5 rocket

A new solid rocket motor built by Northrop Grumman has aced its final test-firing before a scheduled debut on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight next year.

SpaceX’s first human-rated Crew Dragon spacecraft took off Saturday from historic launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, launching NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on the first piloted orbital space mission from a U.S. spaceport in nearly a decade.

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.