Live coverage: Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral

United Launch Alliance chief executive Tory Bruno said Thursday the company will offer more rides for CubeSats aboard future Atlas 5 rocket flights, and give some away for free, in a bid to tap into a growing market of small satellites with applications in education, scientific research and commercial business.

Rising atop a column of rocket exhaust lighting up the Kazakh steppe, a Russian Proton booster took off Thursday with a commercial communications satellite for AsiaSat.

This is the launch timeline to be followed by the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral with the commercial Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo freighter headed to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for Tuesday at 11:11 a.m. EDT (1511 GMT).