Live coverage: ExoMars mission underway after Proton launch

A Soviet-era missile originally built to deliver nuclear warheads to the United States in wartime fired into space for a much different purpose Tuesday, carrying a European environmental satellite into orbit to help track the effects of climate change.

With its payload shroud filled with multiple U.S. Air Force satellites heading for a high-altitude perch over the equator, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Saturday at 7:13 p.m. EDT (2313 GMT) in its most powerful configuration with five strap-on solid-fueled boosters.

The head of the Russian space agency said this week that the the Gateway mini-space station NASA plans to build around the moon is “too U.S.-centric” and added that Russia unlikely to significantly contribute to the project.