Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

Towering more than 30 stories tall, the mobile gantry structure at the Delta 4-Heavy rocket’s launch pad at Cape Canaveral was wheeled into position for liftoff of the triple-core launcher Thursday with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Katalyst Space Technologies’ Link spacecraft is set to head to orbit in June 2026 onboard Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL air-launched rocket. NASA awarded Katalyst a $30 million contract for the mission in September 2025.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is set to carry Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule into space on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station. This timeline shows the major mission events planned from liftoff through Starliner’s orbital insertion burn about 31 minutes after launch.