Video: Groundbreaking for commercial crew access tower

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was transfered from its assembly building to the pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today for Thursday’s launch of the U.S. military’s third SBIRS GEO missile warning satellite.

Christina Koch, veteran of six spacewalks outside the International Space Station — including the first all-female excursion — will join a Russian commander and an Italian flight engineer for a fiery plunge back to Earth early Thursday, setting a new world record for the longest single flight by a female astronaut.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket, modified for crewed launches, rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility Wednesday for the 1,800-foot trek to pad 41 in preparation for liftoff with Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule on an unpiloted mission to the International Space Station.