Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

NASA has selected SpaceX and United Launch Alliance to deliver to orbit a joint U.S.-European oceanography mission and the next land imaging satellite in the Landsat series on Falcon 9 and Atlas 5 rockets.

John Spencer, the New Horizons Deputy Project Scientist, reveals the first multi-pixel image of Ultima Thule which provide hints at its shape during a news conference at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Spaceflight Now’s readers sent in photos from Thursday night’s launch of four NASA satellites aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, marking a fiery start to a mission probing the fundamental workings of the magnetic bubble shielding Earth from cosmic radiation.