Atlas 2AS rocket puts TV satellite in space

The booster rocket that will launch NASA’s next-generation Orion space capsule on a two-orbit, four-hour shakedown cruise in December has been rolled to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Rolling toward a mid-May deployment of a clandestine spy satellite, United Launch Alliance’s triple-body Delta 4-Heavy rocket moved from its Cape Canaveral assembly building to pad 37B yesterday.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, built with extended propellant tanks and engines rated for higher thrust, is poised for liftoff on the company’s first launch since a catastrophic failure in June grounded the commercial booster.