Photos: Atlas 5 rocket on the pad with WorldView 4 satellite

Mission managers Tuesday granted approval to proceed with Wednesday’s rollout of the Atlas 5 rocket and Thursday’s launch to deliver the commercial Cygnus cargo ship into orbit to resupply the International Space Station.

The U.S. Defense Department’s internal watchdog has opened a probe into whether the Pentagon’s contracts with United Launch Alliance were properly awarded after a former ULA executive implied the government rigged a recent procurement in favor of the company.

Boeing’s first Starliner crew capsule to fly in space departed its factory Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a trip to a launch pad a few miles away, where teams raised the craft atop an Atlas 5 rocket for liftoff next month on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.