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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A rocket carrying telecommunications equipment has launched into space.
An Atlas 5 rocket carrying the equipment lifted off at 4:12 p.m. Monday and was the heaviest payload ever launched aboard an Atlas 5 rocket.
The equipment will help with the operation of cell phones and other handheld devices and was built by Palo Alto, Calif.-based Space Systems/Loral.
The satellite is more than 27 feet tall and has a reflector that unfurls to more than 100 feet to supply solar power to the craft.
At launch, the fully fueled satellite weighed about 14,625 pounds.