Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

United Launch Alliance’s 50th mission for the U.S. Air Force lifted off at 12:15 a.m. EDT (0415 GMT) Wednesday. An Atlas 5 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral with the Air Force’s fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite.

More testing will be done on both the thrusters on the spacecraft’s aft section. The Starliner crew will also repeat some previously conducted test activities, like the ‘safe haven’ protocol.

The first of up to seven missions planned on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas and Delta rocket fleets this year is scheduled for Saturday from California’s Central Coast, when a Delta 4-Heavy is set for blastoff on a spy satellite delivery flight delayed a month to troubleshoot a hydrogen fuel leak in a booster.