Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for launch

Lockheed Martin, the largest U.S. defense contractor, announced late Sunday that it has reached a deal valued at $4.4 billion to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne, a supplier of engines to NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket and United Launch Alliance’s Atlas, Delta, and Vulcan rockets.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket and NASA’s four MMS satellite probes passed their Flight Readiness Review on Friday that assessed the progress of work and affirmed plans to launch next Thursday night.

An Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from launch complex 41 at Cape Canaveral carrying the SBIRS GEO-4 missile early warning satellite in this video shot from the Kennedy Space Center Press Site.