Live coverage: Atlas 5 blasts off from California

A new infrared reconnaissance satellite for one of the United States’ highest priority space programs — making early detection of enemy missile launches — was successfully delivered into orbit Friday by an Atlas 5 rocket.

The third Space Base Infrared Systems Geosynchronous Earth Orbit, or SBIRS GEO Flight 3, was hoisted atop the Atlas 5 on Jan.12 to complete the pre-flight assembly of the 189-foot-tall rocket for launch.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set for launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday with a mobile broadband communications satellite for Inmarsat.