Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

In nearly five years on the job as Boeing’s Space Launch System program manager, John Shannon has presided over the completion of the first SLS core stage inside a cavernous factory in New Orleans.

Flying for the 155th and final time, a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket took off from California on Sept. 15 with NASA’s ICESat 2 satellite.

Launching the Wideband Global SATCOM 8 satellite for the U.S. military, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT).