Delta IV rocket launches military satellite from Cape

A satellite adding to the “backbone” of space-based military communications safely reached orbit after an 8:07 p.m. Thursday blastoff atop a powerful Delta IV rocket.

Launching just before sunset, the 22-story United Launch Alliance rocket roared from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with 1.6 million pounds of thrust, assisted by four solid rocket motors.

The rocket shot through a layer of low, darkening clouds, up into sunlight that captured its exhaust plume in a brilliant white glow as it arced to the southeast over the Atlantic Ocean.

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