Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

In a breath-taking display at daybreak Wednesday, an Atlas rocket powered an enormous U.S. Navy satellite into space to close the last remaining gap and give global reach to the military’s new mobile communications system.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket fired into space Thursday from Cape Canaveral with a $1.1 billion U.S. Air Force communications satellite, delivering fresh capacity for the military’s voice, video and data relay networks.

A NASA spacecraft that will fly closer to the sun than any mission before will launch on a Delta 4-Heavy rocket in 2018, requiring a boost from the largest active launcher in the U.S. inventory and repeated flybys around Venus to reach an operating post inside the solar atmosphere.