Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for Friday launch to GPS constellation

When the first Delta 2 rocket took off on Valentine’s Day 1989, ideas like navigating by smartphone and driving robots on Mars were science fiction. More than 150 launches over the last 30 years helped change all that.

NASA has purchased two seats on Russian Soyuz capsules launching later this year and in early 2018 to expand the crew on the U.S. segment of the International Space Station from three to four, and reserved options to fly astronauts on Soyuz spacecraft in 2019 if commercial rides are not available in time.

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Medium+ (5,4) rocket lifted off Wednesday at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) from Cape Canaveral to deploy the latest craft for the U.S. military’s Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite constellation.