Video: Atlas 5 Rocket launches with GPS Satellite

The Global Positioning System, its precision navigation and timing services made possible by the U.S. Air Force and provided free-of-charge to the planet’s civilian population, is a marvel of the modern world, and the orbiting network will receive a fresh satellite Wednesday.

The most powerful variants of the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets have been purchased by the Air Force to launch intelligence-gathering spacecraft for the U.S. government, and NASA has bought an Atlas 5 to deploy a critical polar-orbiting weather satellite.

A massive U.S. Navy satellite to launch from Cape Canaveral in January has arrived in Florida, kicking off a campaign to ready the mobile communications craft for flight.