CAPE CANAVERAL: A powerful Atlas V rocket blasted off Tuesday night with a Navy satellite designed to improve radiocommunications for U.S. forces on patrol in Afghanistan and Iraq, and across the globe.
The 206-foot United Launch Alliance rocket launched at 8:04 p.m. ET, generating 2.5 million pounds of thrust to lift the roughly 15,000-pound satellite.
The mission got off to a successful start, with five solid-rocket boosters — the most powerful version of the Atlas V — and a Russian-made booster engine performing as planned.
The rocket’s Centaur upper stage also completed the first two of three burns before the Navy’s third Mobile User Objective System satellite is deployed nearly three hours after liftoff.
