Live views of launch pad 39A (members only)

With construction already underway at Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A on facilities for SpaceX’s next-generation Starship vehicle, another new fixture could soon rise at the seaside launch complex to satisfy U.S. military requirements to vertically integrate sensitive top secret spy satellites with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 194 feet tall and and weighing 720,000 pounds, generates 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine to launch the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship on the OA-7 mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft closed out a six-day test flight in low Earth orbit Friday with an on-target splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, and officials hailed the ship’s performance before it flies with astronauts for the first time later this year.