ULA launches Air Force missile-warning satellite from Cape Canaveral

Atlas V launched at 7:48 p.m. Friday

Atlas V launched a U.S. Air Force satellite from Cape Canaveral on Friday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After being scrubbed on Thursday, the launch of a U.S. Air Force satellite designed to detect missiles lifted off from Cape Canaveral Friday evening.

The Atlas V launched at 7:48 p.m., right at the start of the 40-minute launch window. The launch is the first ULA mission from the Space Coast this year.

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Officials announced at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, a little more than a half an hour before the launch window was set to open, that the launch had been scrubbed for the day.

Officials said "a ground issue associated with the booster liquid oxygen system" was the cause for the scrub.

Friday afternoon ULA announced the Atlas V was cleared for launch.

The Space Based Infrared System, or SBIRS, GEO Flight 4 satellite was processed at Astrotech Space Operations facility, in Titusville, where it arrived Oct. 31 from California. The satellite joins three others in assisting Air Force missile-defense efforts.

What to know

Rocket: U:A Atlas V 411 configuration
What: Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) GEO Flight 4 satellite for the U.S. Air Force
When: Friday, Jan. 19, 2018
Launch window: 7:48 p.m.
Weather: 90 percent
Launch pad: Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Sonic boom: No