Atlas 5/Cygnus post-launch news conference

The head of the launch enterprise directorate at the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, Claire Leon, spoke with reporters March 15 about the military’s award of a GPS launch contract to SpaceX, and she discussed plans for more head-to-head launch contract competitions in the coming months.

An Antares booster emerged from its hangar on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and rolled out to its launch pad Thursday for the first time since a rocket failure grounded Orbital ATK’s cargo launcher in 2014.

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship, loaded with nearly 5,500 pounds of cargo and experiments, aborted an approach to the International Space Station on Wednesday after encountering a problem in its GPS navigation system.