Video: Atlas 5 GPS 2F-8 Launch Highlights

The first launch of a U.S. Space Force mission since the establishment of the new military service is planned Thursday, when a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral with a billion-dollar jam-resistant communications satellite designed to ensure national leaders remain connected with the armed forces.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 194 feet tall and and weighing a million pounds, unleashes two million pounds of thrust from its main engine and three solid-fuel boosters today to launch the EchoStar 19 commercial Internet broadcast satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This is the launch highlights reel from United Launch Alliance of the Delta 4 rocket carrying the seventh satellite for the Air Force’s Wideband Global SATCOM constellation.