spacetoday.net: Atlas 5 launches AEHF-5 communications satellite

Atlas 5 launches AEHF-5 communications satellite

Posted: Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 4:00 PM ET (2000 GMT)
Atlas 5 launch of AEHF-5 (ULA)

An Atlas 5 lifted off early Thursday morning carrying a military communications satellite. The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 551 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 6:13 am EDT (1013 GMT), about a half-hour into a two-hour launch window after resolving some minor technical issues. The rocket's payload, the AEHF-5 spacecraft, wase released from the Centaur upper stage five hours and 40 minutes after liftoff, following a final burn by the Centaur. The 6,500-kilogram AEHF-5 completes a geostationary ring of five satellites providing global coverage for the United States and international partners Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.