Stats: Delta 4 history and backlog (updated March 30)

United Launch Alliance teams ran through an 11-hour countdown Friday at Cape Canaveral to rehearse procedures before the first flight of a modified Atlas 5 rocket with Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule Dec. 20.

The ever-dependable Delta 2 rocket continued its flawless service to NASA and Earth sciences Saturday with the launch of a $916 million environmental probe focused on producing global maps of soil moisture from space.

A day after a timing error caused it to enter the wrong orbit and miss its objective of meeting up with the International Space Station, Boeing’s unpiloted Starliner crew capsule prepared for its next major test Sunday, when it will plunge back into the atmosphere and target a predawn landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.