Photos: Atlas 5 on the pad for X-37B launch

Critical operations were completed this morning by United Launch Alliance at Cape Canaveral to prepare two rockets for upcoming flights into space.

The nation’s existing Atlas and Delta launch sites are vying for a future when United Launch Alliance completes its modernization with a new rocket system and downsizing to one pad on each coast.

Student-built miniature satellites to demonstrate 3D printing to make repairs in space, a mission to study solar explosions hitting the Earth, a technology test for deorbiting smallsats and a precursor to a commemorative time capsule have won free launches into space aboard Atlas 5 rockets in United Launch Alliance’s first-ever cubesat challenge.