Q&A with Steve Skladanek, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services

The spacecraft will launch onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 551 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It’s built on Boeing’s 702MP+ satellite bus.

An Atlas 5 rocket has been rolled out to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral for blastoff to deploy a replacement satellite to strengthen the Global Positioning System for U.S. military forces and the worldwide economy.

Plans to launch a Navy communications satellite aboard an Atlas 5 rocket early Monday have been interrupted by Tropical Storm Erika, an unpredictable cyclone with its sights on Florida.