Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for launch

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket topped by the Air Force’s X-37B miniature space shuttle blasted off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today to deliver the spaceplane into orbit.

Video highlights of the 50th Atlas 5 flight. The United Launch Alliance rocket carried the eighth Global Positioning System (GPS 2F-8) satellite for the U.S. Air Force.

The composite structure of Sierra Nevada Corp.’s first space-rated Dream Chaser space plane has arrived at the company’s Colorado factory for integration with computers, a heat shield and mechanical systems before launch to the International Space Station in late 2021.