Q&A with Alain Charmeau, CEO of Airbus Safran Launchers

The first launch of Boeing’s Starliner space capsule aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket has been delayed to Dec. 19, officials announced Tuesday.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Sunday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and carried 10 Iridium communications satellites toward a perch in low Earth orbit, then the launcher’s first stage nailed a landing on a platform positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA is seeking proposals from U.S. satellite manufacturers interested in building the spacecraft bus for the agency’s initiative to pluck a boulder from an asteroid and drive it into lunar orbit, with plans to select multiple winners for study contracts next year.