Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for launch

United Launch Alliance teams at Cape Canaveral hoisted a Centaur upper stage on top of an Atlas 5 rocket Friday at launch pad 41, completing the initial build-up of the launch vehicle slated to carry Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule into space in December on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.

Leading all other nations, U.S. launch providers flew 44 missions in 2020 that aimed to place payloads in Earth orbit or deep space, with 40 successes. China followed with 35 successful orbital missions in 39 launch attempts.

The two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, satellites for the U.S. military are mounted aboard the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket. Liftoff is planned for Aug. 19 from Cape Canaveral.