Video: X-37B payload mated to Atlas 5

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket, standing 217 feet tall and weighing 900,000 pounds, unleashes 1.8 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and four side-mounted boosters at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) Wednesday to launch the eighth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite for U.S. military communications.

Follow the major events of the Atlas 5 rocket’s launch with the Solar Orbiter spacecraft with this mission timeline.

A sophisticated communications satellite launches into orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket Sunday to bring residential high-speed Internet to parts of the U.S. that must look to space for connectivity.