Video by SpaceVids.tv
The same night President Barack Obama emphasized a “re-energized space program,” an unmanned Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a Navy communications satellite on board.
Despite some minor delays, the United Launch Alliance launched the rocket at 8:04 p.m. EST, more than 20 minutes past its scheduled launch. It is the third, and most powerful, Mobile and User Objective System, MUOS, satellite meant to improve communications for U.S. military ground forces.
According to the ULA’s website, the MUOS system “will provide military users 10 times more communications capability over existing systems, including simultaneous voice, video and data, leveraging 3G communications technology.”
The 7.45-ton, 206-ft. satellite will join its two predecessors, MUOS-1 and MUOS-2, in orbit. A fourth rocket is intended to lift off later this summer. The network will become fully operational with a final rocket launch in 2016.
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