Video: Delta 2/SMAP pre-launch news conference

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket stands on pad 0A at Wallops Island, Virginia, on a frigid morning hours before a planned liftoff with more than 8,000 pounds of cargo heading for the International Space Station.

The NASA manager overseeing development of Boeing and SpaceX’s commercial crew ferry ships says the space agency has approved SpaceX’s proposal to strap in astronauts atop Falcon 9 rockets, then fuel the launchers in the final hour of the countdown as the company does for its uncrewed missions.

An upgraded, cyber-hardened $1 billion satellite to support the U.S. military’s missile defense systems rode into orbit from Cape Canaveral Tuesday at the tip of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.