Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

NASA announced Friday a mix of spaceflight veterans and rookie astronauts who will launch on the first flights of new Boeing and SpaceX commercial spaceships starting as soon as next spring, several months later than previously scheduled.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT) today to place NASA’s new tracking station into the sky. The data router will relay video, telemetry and science information from the space station and dozens of research satellites to a central ground terminal. Follow the ascent in our live journal.

NASA and United Launch Alliance will offer the first-of-its-kind live webcast in 360 Virtual Reality format of Tuesday morning’s Atlas 5 rocket liftoff from Cape Canaveral with a space station cargo ship.