Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket, standing 217 feet tall and weighing 900,000 pounds, unleashes 1.8 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and four side-mounted boosters at 8:18 p.m. EDT Saturday (0018 GMT Sunday) to launch the ninth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite for U.S. military and allied communications.

Lockheed Martin’s launch services team hopes to lure up to four commercial customers per year to fly on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 booster as a stream of U.S. government missions is forecast to dry up starting in 2017, according to Lockheed Martin’s rocket sales chief.

Payload readiness has delayed next weekend’s planned Delta 4-Heavy rocket launch for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.