Atlas V rocket to blast off from Cape Canaveral

Recently, the company’s Atlas V Rocket division announced its plans to launch Morelos-3 on Friday; it is a communications satellite for the Mexican government.

Air Force weather forecasters are closely monitoring Hurricane Joaquin as United Launch Alliance prepares an Atlas V rocket for an early Friday launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

It was the 100th launch for ULA since its formation in 2006, all of which have been successful.

The boat moved from the area and the launch went off at the end of the 6:28 a.m. launch window.

ULA’s growing interest in the commercial satellite launch market comes as privately owned SpaceX is poised to break ULA’s nine-year monopoly on the US military’s launch business. It’s unclear how many rocket launches the contract includes. The alliance’s first Florida launch happened in February 2007.

A Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Boeing (NYSE:BA) joint venture will continue to launch Air Force satellites, and Congress could ease sanctions on the Russian-built engines needed for the launches.

ULA has begun developing the new Vulcan rocket, which it hopes will be ready to fly for the first time in 2019. President Barack Obama on Wednesday said he planned to veto the 2016 defense policy bill.