Atlas 5 rocket readied for high-altitude multi-satellite flight Saturday

United Launch Alliance crews at Cape Canaveral are finishing final preparations for an Atlas 5 rocket launch Saturday evening to dispatch three U.S. military satellites directly to an orbital perch more than 20,000 miles over the equator. Set for blastoff at 7:13 p.m. EDT (2313 GMT) Saturday, the Atlas 5 rocket will fly in its most powerful configuration, helped off Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad with five Aerojet Rocketdyne-built solid rocket boosters and a Russian-made RD-180 main engine producing a combined 2.6 million pounds of thrust. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 14)