Q&A with Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin’s Orion program manager

Continuing a run of military satellite deployments this summer, United Launch Alliance has begun stacking the Atlas 5 rocket that will boost the Navy’s next mobile communications craft.

Delivering two-and-a-half million pounds of ground-shaking thrust at takeoff, more than any rocket flying from Cape Canaveral these days, the mighty vehicle was rolled from its assembly building to the launch pad Monday for Wednesday’s early morning blastoff.

Boeing said Tuesday the first orbital test flight of its commercial crew capsule, named the Starliner, will be delayed until August “in order to avoid unnecessary schedule pressure” and give priority on the Atlas 5 rocket’s manifest to a U.S. Air Force communications satellite. NASA confirmed Wednesday that officials have approved an extension of the Starliner’s first crewed mission to last up to several months.