Two NASA satellites rocketed into orbit from California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday, commencing a $170 million mission to study a phenomenon of space physics that has eluded researchers since the dawn of the Space Age.

One of these ride-along NASA efforts is the Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost) SmallSat, which will demonstrate a new way of more efficiently placing remote-sensing (or rather, Earth-observing) instruments into orbit.

The launch takes place on a milestone date, marking 20 years since the STS-114 space shuttle mission took off from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39B. The launch of Discovery on the STS-114 mission on July 26, 2005, marked the return to flight for the space shuttle after the Columbia tragedy investigation.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Vandenberg in California on a NASA mission. Where are some spots to watch liftoff? Will there be a sonic boom?

Athena EPIC is poised to serve as a pathfinder for space startup NovaWurks and its sensorcraft architecture, demonstrating a more innovative method for placing remote sensing instruments into orbit faster and more affordably. This approach enables the opportunity to learn from commercial best practices and implement an “all-of-government” approach.

Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Californians could catch a Starlink satellite launch from the Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The next satellites SpaceX helps to deliver to orbit from Vandenberg won't be its own, but rather two of NASA's on a scientific mission.

SpaceX launched the third batch of satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband megaconstellation early on Wednesday morning (July 16). A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 24 Kuiper craft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday at 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT).