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VideoUnited Launch Alliance’s high-tempo year begins with GPS launch Friday
Kicking off United Launch Alliance's ambitious 2016 with as many as 15 launches planned for the U.S. military, intelligence community, NASA and commercial clients, an Atlas 5 rocket will thunder to orbit Friday to deploy the last satellite in the current generation of GPS navigation spacecraft.

Photos: GPS 2F-12 navigation spacecraft readied for launch
This collection of photographs shows the Air Force’s Global Positioning System 2F-12 navigation satellite being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for flight on Friday morning.

Atlas 5/GPS 2F-12 launch timeline
Follow the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad with the U.S. Air Force’s GPS 2F-12 navigation satellite. Launch is scheduled for Friday at 8:38 a.m. EST (1338 GMT).

GPS satellite moves to Atlas 5 facility for launch next Friday
After a quarter-century readying Global Positioning System satellites for launch at a Cape Canaveral Air Force Station processing hub, the final bird rolled out Saturday as the navigation program transitions to a new era.

Cygnus sections arrive in Florida for next space station cargo launch
Elements of the next U.S. commercial cargo-delivery trip to the International Space Station are coming together at Kennedy Space Center for the planned March 10 liftoff.

Bridging the past and future on the shoulders of the Atlas rocket
On top of an Atlas rocket, the place where orbital spaceflight for American astronauts began, will sit Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to launch humans into space starting next year.

Orbital ATK, SpaceX nab U.S. Air Force propulsion contracts
Orbital ATK and SpaceX won Pentagon contracts worth a combined value of up to $241 million Wednesday in public-private partnerships crafted to hasten the U.S. military's move away from Russian-supplied propulsion to deliver national security satellites to orbit.

Oldest GPS navigation satellite to be retired with next launch
A new Global Positioning System craft will ride a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket into orbit next month to replace a satellite that has operated in space for 25 years.

Florida spaceport tallies highest launch rate in more than a decade
Cape Canaveral was the departure point for more space launches in 2015 than in any year since 2003, with 17 takeoffs by Atlas, Falcon and Delta rockets hoisting U.S. military satellites, commercial payloads and cargo for the International Space Station.

2016 manifest preview: United Launch Alliance’s busy year ahead
Some of America's most critical surveillance satellites, final members of other spacecraft series and a probe that will touch an asteroid are among 15 rocket flights planned by United Launch Alliance in 2016.