Photos: America’s 100th EELV blasts off

The backbone of the U.S. military’s global communications network, relied upon by soldiers, ships, jets, aerial drones and allied nations around the world, will receive a new satellite with unprecedented capacity following its launch Wednesday atop a Delta 4 rocket.

The pressurized crew module and European-built service module for NASA’s first Orion spacecraft to travel to the moon will be joined together for the first time in the coming weeks at the Kennedy Space Center, with preparations — at least for Orion — on a pace to be ready for launch on an unpiloted test flight next year.

U.S. spacewalk 94 was slated to have NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman perform a variety of operations around the orbiting outpost during the roughly 6.5-hour-long event. A new date for the spacewalk hasn’t been announced.