Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for launch

The constellation-building Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance successfully deployed the fifth communications spacecraft for the Navy’s Mobile User Objective System today to form a new rugged smartphone network for the U.S. military.

NASA is taking steps to rein in costs, emphasizing bonds with private sector companies, and signaling it might be open to a future where the agency’s flagship Orion deep space capsule and Space Launch System are no longer necessary to explore deep space, at least in their current forms.

Russia’s Proton rocket launched from Kazakhstan at 0547 GMT (1:47 a.m. EDT) Saturday with Mexico’s Centenario communications satellite, but the Russian space agency reported an anomaly occurred some time after liftoff.