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Videos: Cygnus prepped for mission to space laboratory
This is video footage documenting preparations for the commercial Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo freighter to perform the OA-7 mission to the International Space Station. Activities occurred at the Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility and the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The craft will be boosted into orbit by a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on April 18 at 11:11 a.m. EDT (1511 GMT).

Photos: Cygnus spacecraft readied for launch to International Space Station
These photographs span activities in March as the news media got an up-close viewing of the Orbital ATK commercial Cygnus cargo ship, its placement aboard a mobile transporter and delivery of the craft to the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket assembly building for hoisting and mating. Liftoff is scheduled for April 18.

Q&A with Claire Leon, director of launch enterprise directorate at SMC
The head of the launch enterprise directorate at the U.S. Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, Claire Leon, spoke with reporters March 15 about the military's award of a GPS launch contract to SpaceX, and she discussed plans for more head-to-head launch contract competitions in the coming months.

Astronauts gear up for spacewalks, resupply launch delayed
NASA is gearing up for an intense few weeks of work aboard the International Space Station, staging three spacewalks, moving a docking port from one module to another to support commercial crew ferry ships and capturing an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship carrying nearly 4 tons of equipment and supplies.

Atlas 5 rocket aims for Friday night launch to send supplies to space station
Officials have accepted a Friday launch date for a commercial cargo ship to the International Space Station after Range availability scuttled notions of moving up the Atlas 5 flight by a day.

SpaceX nabs GPS launch contract as Air Force opens more missions for bidding
The U.S. Air Force this week awarded SpaceX a contract to launch a Global Positioning System satellite in early 2019, concluding the second of as many as 15 competitions the military plans to run over the next year to pit SpaceX against United Launch Alliance for rights to lift defense and intelligence-gathering payloads into orbit.

S.S. John Glenn vessel mounted atop Atlas 5 rocket for launch next week
An eight-ton cargo ship destined for the International Space Station was hoisted aboard its United Launch Alliance Atlas-Centaur booster rocket today in preparation for liftoff to the orbiting laboratory next week.

Next Cygnus commercial space freighter christened the S.S. John Glenn
Orbital ATK's next commercial resupply freighter going to the International Space Station will be named the S.S. John Glenn, paying tribute to the legendary first American to orbit the Earth.

Photos: The S.S. John Glenn freighter readied to launch
The two structural elements of Orbital ATK's OA-7 Cygnus space freighter were delivered to Kennedy Space Center for final assembly, the packing of cargo and launch to the International Space Station.

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket assembled to launch the S.S. John Glenn
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, flying in its basic two-stage configuration with no strap-on solids, was stacked aboard a mobile launch platform at Cape Canaveral's Vertical Integration Facility on Feb. 22 and 23 in preparation to send Orbital ATK's S.S. John Glenn cargo ship into orbit for the International Space Station.