Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

About a year and a half after signing a Space Act Agreement with NASA to develop a commercial space station, Northrop Grumman formally withdrew from its solo plans in order to partner with Nanoracks, a subsidiary of Voyager Space.

With U.S. military demand waning in coming years, United Launch Alliance has multiple openings in its Atlas 5 launch manifest in 2017 and 2018 available to commercial customers with as little as three months’ notice, according to company officials.

Launching the U.S. Navy’s fifth MUOS mobile communications satellite, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral today.