Shuttle Atlantis unwrapped ahead of public debut

Maxar’s eagle-eyed WorldView 3 satellite captured high-resolution views Monday of NASA’s twin Apollo-era launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, both now home to new launch vehicles 50 years after humans took their first steps on the moon.

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, a commercially-developed light-class booster, lifted off at 1:33 a.m. EST (0633 GMT) Sunday, carrying 13 CubeSats into orbit under contract to NASA.

The Air Force’s robotic X-37B mini space shuttle swooped out of obscurity today after 718 days spent in orbit on a secretive military mission, touching down at the Kennedy Space Center’s orbiter runway on autopilot, the military announced on Twitter.