Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

A United Launch Delta 4 rocket lifted off Friday from the SLC-6 launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, powering into orbit from a historic seaside complex originally developed for crewed missions.

The most powerful version of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) today on a three-hour flight to deploy a U.S. Navy mobile communications satellite into orbit. Follow the mission in our live journal.

The first piloted test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule has been delayed to early 2018 as designers wrestle with the mass of the spacecraft, aerodynamic loads the vehicle will see during launch, and new software requirements levied by NASA, company officials said.