Photos: Delta 4 awaits blastoff

In the span of two weeks, United Launch Alliance technicians performed the basic buildup of the Atlas 5 rocket and then mated the advanced GOES-R weather satellite that will be hauled into space on Saturday.

Boeing engineers in New Mexico are readying a Starliner spacecraft for a critical pad abort test this fall to demonstrate the capsule’s ability to escape an emergency on the launch pad before green-lighting the capsule to carry astronauts.

The Centaur upper stage destined to send Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule into orbit on its first unpiloted test flight next year has arrived at Cape Canaveral after a sea journey aboard United Launch Alliance’s Mariner transport ship.