BREAKING NEWS

Rocket blasts off from Florida carrying new GPS satellite

By REUTERS

MAY 16, 2013 03:16

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - An unmanned Atlas rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Wednesday to deliver an upgraded global positioning system satellite into orbit.

The 189-foot (58-meter) tall rocket, built and launched by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, soared into blue skies over Florida's east coast at 5:38 p.m. (2138 GMT).

Perched on top of the rocket was a 3,400-pound (1,542 kg) Boeing-built GPS 2F satellite, the fourth of 12 upgraded spacecraft expected to be added to the orbiting constellation over the next several years.

"It's a big moment for all of us," Travis Pond, a lieutenant with the US Air Force 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, said during a United Launch Alliance launch webcast.

The navigation satellites are used by the US military and allies, as well as millions of civilians. The upgraded versions offer greater accuracy, enhanced internal atomic clocks, better protection against signal jamming and a new signal for commercial aviation.

The satellite, which cost about $121 million, will replace a spacecraft launched in 1996 that already is twice past its design lifetime. That satellite will be repositioned for use as a spare.

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