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National Reconnaissance Office to begin year’s manifest with Delta 4
Beginning the National Reconnaissance Office's campaign of four launches in 2016 using boosters big and small to deploy a varied collection of new intelligence satellites, a Delta 4 rocket stands ready for liftoff before sun-up Wednesday from California.

Photos: NROL-45 payload fitted atop Delta 4 for launch
This collection of photographs shows the National Reconnaissance Office's classified NROL-45 payload, already encapsulated in the Delta 4 nose cone, being moved from the payload processing facility at Space Launch Complex 6 and lifted atop the United Launch Alliance rocket for flight from Vandenberg.
VideoRecap story: Last GPS satellite of its generation arrives in space
The main engine rumbling to life. Ice shards breaking free. The rocket lumbering off the pad. The battle against gravity being won once again. That was the scene as the Atlas 5 took flight to cap a generation of Global Positioning System satellites.

Photos: Atlas 5 launches navigation craft from Cape Canaveral
A collection of pad photos from the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight to deploy the GPS 2F-12 satellite for use by the U.S. military and billions of civilians around the world.
VideoVideos: Atlas 5 caps a generation of GPS launches
A replay of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launching the Global Positioning System 2F-12 satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida, completing 27 years and 61 flights of the GPS 2 generation.

Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:38 a.m. EST (1338 GMT) Friday to place the Global Positioning System 2F-12 navigation satellite into space. Follow the mission in our live journal.

Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for Friday launch to GPS constellation
The Atlas 5 rocket emerges from the Vertical Integration Facility for rollout to Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral in preparation to launch GPS 2F-12 satellite on Friday at 8:38 a.m. EST.

Russians carry out spacewalk
Two veteran cosmonauts ventured outside the International Space Station Wednesday, swapped out materials science space exposure samples, installed handrails needed for future spacewalks and tested an applicator and thin-film coatings that could prove useful reconditioning aged or damaged hull panels.
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.