CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – An Atlas V rocket and Global Positioning System satellite launched Friday night from Cape Canaveral Air Force station.
Liftoff from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was targeted for 11:23 p.m.
This was the 47th launch by an Atlas V since its debut in 2002 under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.
The rocket, which rolled to its pad Thursday morning, is flying in its "401" configuration with a four-meter fairing, no strap-on solid rocket motors and a single Centaur upper stage engine.
On top of the 19-story rocket is the Air Force's seventh of 12 next-generation GPS satellites, part of a Boeing-built block called IIF, or 2F. It's the third of four new GPS IIF spacecraft scheduled to launch this year.