Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

DigitalGlobe’s 360 virtual reality preview of Friday’s WorldView 4 satellite launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken arrived Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center, ready for spacesuit and spacecraft fit checks, and some time off with their families before launching next week on the first crewed flight into orbit from U.S. soil since 2011.

In addition to carrying an Air Force electric propulsion thruster test, a materials research investigation sponsored by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center will be flying aboard the X-37B miniature spaceplane later this month.