Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy’s family will be watching remotely from halfway around the world when he blasts off April 9 from Kazakhstan to begin a six-month expedition on the International Space Station.

The next satellite for the U.S. military’s communications network, this one purchased by five international allies, has arrived in Florida for its launch in March atop a Delta 4 rocket.

Engineers working on the James Webb Space Telescope, which had its launch delayed to 2020 earlier this year, recently discovered another problem during testing at the observatory’s prime contractor Northrop Grumman in Southern California.