Launching the commercial WorldView 4 Earth-imaging satellite for DigitalGlobe, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thunders away from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base today at 10:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. EST; 1830 GMT).

Carrying a sophisticated billion-dollar missile detection satellite for the U.S. military, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday with 1.6 million pounds of thrust from a Russian RD-180 main engine and twin solid rocket boosters.

With U.S. military demand waning in coming years, United Launch Alliance has multiple openings in its Atlas 5 launch manifest in 2017 and 2018 available to commercial customers with as little as three months’ notice, according to company officials.