Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

The inaugural test flight of Rocket Lab’s commercial small satellite booster in May fell short of orbit because a software programming error on a piece of ground equipment led a safety officer to send a premature termination command, and the company is planning to deliver the next Electron vehicle to its New Zealand launch pad in October.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket with a new type of solid rocket booster emerged from its hangar Tuesday evening for the 1,800-foot rollout to pad 41 at Cape Canaveral, moving into position for liftoff Wednesday with a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload.

The launch of a NASA ionospheric research satellite off Florida’s east coast is targeted for Oct. 9 after persistent technical problems with its air-dropped Pegasus rocket stymied two launch opportunities last year.