Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will deliver the U.S. Air Force’s second GPS 3-series navigation satellite into an elliptical transfer orbit nearly two hours after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Medium+ (5,4) rocket lifted off at 8:18 p.m. EDT (0018 GMT) from Cape Canaveral in service to the U.S. military’s Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite constellation.

NASA civil servants and the agency’s contractor work force are bracing for high winds and rain from Hurricane Dorian, securing rocket stages, spacecraft assembly areas and even hauling a 6.7-million-pound mobile launch tower, designed for the huge rocket being built for the Artemis moon program, back to the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building for safekeeping.