United Launch Alliance
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Photos: Gantry rolled back to reveal Atlas 5 rocket for launch
The 8-million-pound mobile service tower is retracted from around the Atlas 5 rocket, revealing the 189-foot-tall vehicle for liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying the commercial WorldView 4 Earth-imaging satellite.

Atlas 5/WorldView 4 launch timeline
This is the ascent timeline to be followed by the Atlas 5 rocket's ascent into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with the commercial WorldView 4 Earth-imaging satellite for DigitalGlobe. Launch is scheduled for Friday at 11:30 a.m. local time (2:30 p.m. EDT; 1830 GMT).

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket on the pad with WorldView 4 satellite
The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket stands atop Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on the eve of Friday's WorldView 4 mission.

Atlas 5 launch postponed by wildfire, Range availability until Sept. 26
Sunday's flight of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was scrubbed due to a wildfire burning south of the pad. The launch delay allows crews to remain in place to battle the blaze. The lack of Range availability this week means the next launch try won't come until Sept. 26.
VideoIdled by Range facility rework for months, Vandenberg ready to launch again Friday
Resuming space launches from the U.S. Western Range at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after a half-year infrastructure outage, an Atlas 5 rocket will boost a commercial Earth-imaging bird into orbit on Friday.

Photos: WorldView 4 satellite’s road to launch
DigitalGlobe's WorldView 4 commercial satellite, which will join sister-craft WorldView 3 in orbit to snap the highest quality Earth imagery available on the market at 31-centimeter resolution, was built by Lockheed Martin and will be launched Friday atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Quick work saved the OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission from nearby explosion
Engineers scrambled to keep NASA's billion-dollar asteroid-bound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on track for its launch last week in the aftermath of an explosion a mile away at SpaceX's launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Photos: Spectacular sunset launch of asteroid mission
Sending the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on an interplanetary trajectory to Asteroid Bennu, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thunders away from Cape Canaveral Thursday at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT).

Video: Post-launch news conference
An hour after OSIRIS-REx separated from the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on its trajectory to Asteroid Bennu, officials from NASA, the University of Arizona, ULA and Lockheed Martin held the post-launch news conference from Kennedy Space Center.

OSIRIS-REx probe launched to asteroid in compelling search for the origins of life
Like reaching back in time to examine the conditions that existed in the ancient solar system, NASA has launched a robotic probe to visit Asteroid Bennu and return an unspoiled sample of the primitive body that may hold the seeds of life.