Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

A European-built satellite with the unusual shape of a house launched into orbit Saturday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Central Coast, carrying a sophisticated radar altimeter to measure rising sea levels on our home planet.

A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket fired away from a California military base and disappeared into an overcast cloud deck Saturday on its final flight, carrying a NASA research satellite into orbit and closing the book on a nearly 30-year legacy of launches.

The launch of the seventh Wideband Global SATCOM military communications satellite aboard a Delta 4 rocket booster occurred tonight at 8:07 p.m. EDT (0007 GMT) from Cape Canaveral.