Air Force Maj. Mark C. Lee releases the Magellan probe from the payload bay of the space shuttle orbiter Atlantis during the first day of the four-day STS-30 space mission. The 21-foot-tall, 7,604- pound Magellan probe is designed to map Venus with its synthetic aperture radar.
The U.S. began extensive air and artillery strikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria on Dec. 19 in retaliation for the killing of three Americans on Dec. 13 by a gunman affiliated with ISIS, U.S. officials said.
