Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew on a flight to the International Space Station Saturday, along with supplies and a pair of empty seats for two Starliner astronauts waiting to hitch a ride home in February after an unexpected eight-and-a-half-month stay in orbit.

Ziplines are used by thrill-seekers in adventures around the world, but now they are coming to the U.S. space program as the emergency escape system for personnel at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is about to be sealed inside the nose fairing of its Atlas 5 rocket booster for a seven-year voyage to asteroid Bennu and back to Earth on a mission to seek out clues to the origin of life and the chaotic early solar system.