MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Although initially scheduled for Monday morning, the rocket launch was delayed for two days due to the threat posed by Tropical Storm Erika. The launch took place at 6:18 a.m. (11:18 GMT) on Wednesday.
The rocket took the US Navy's fourth 7.5-ton Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite into the Earth's orbit, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The MUOS, expected to assist the US Navy in maintaining smartphone mobile communication, joined three satellites already in orbit, and will be fully tested next month.
Atlas V is part of the Atlas rocket family, in use since August 2002, during which time there have been 56 successful launches of this series.
