Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for launch

Astronauts Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins ventured outside the lab complex Friday for a long-awaited spacewalk to attach a new docking mechanism, the first of two that will be used by U.S. crew ferry ships being built by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to and from the outpost, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket powered away from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California tonight to place a classified surveillance satellite into space for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Follow the ascent in our live journal.

The final Delta 4 Medium rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 22, 2019, carrying into orbit the U.S. Air Force’s GPS 3 SV02 navigation satellite.