Atlas 5 NROL-55 launch full broadcast

A massive U.S. Navy satellite to launch from Cape Canaveral in January has arrived in Florida, kicking off a campaign to ready the mobile communications craft for flight.

Construction is complete on the first batch of 81 new satellites to overhaul Iridium’s mobile communications network, and the data relay stations will soon head from their factory near Phoenix to California’s hilly Central Coast for launch Sept. 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:28 a.m. EDT (1028 GMT) today to deploy the Mexican Morelos 3 mobile communications satellite.