Photos: News media images of Atlas 5 launch

United Launch Alliance plans to introduce a new payload fairing design on the next-generation Vulcan rocket, which will fly with composite parts made by Switzerland-based Ruag Space, the company’s chief executive said Wednesday.

Launching the Wideband Global SATCOM 9 satellite purchased by allied nations in collaboration with the U.S. military’s worldwide communications network, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral at 8:18 p.m. EDT (0018 GMT).

The NASA TV broadcast of the launch of an Atlas 5 rocket carrying the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship bound for the International Space Station on March 22, 2016. (Membership Required)