Video: Weather causes Atlas 5 countdown hold

A nuclear blast detection satellite and an assortment of experiments will be boosted directly into geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above Earth in 2019 by the most-powerful version of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket, the Air Force has decided.

An 11-hour practice countdown was completed Friday at Cape Canaveral’s launch complex 41 for the planned launch of an Atlas 5 rocket and Boeing’s Starliner capsule later this month. The rocket was loaded with super-cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in a full dress rehearsal for launch day.

A new Global Positioning System craft will ride a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket into orbit next month to replace a satellite that has operated in space for 25 years.