Posted: Wed, Sep 9, 2009, 7:44 AM ET (1144 GMT)
An Atlas 5 successfully launched a mysterious military satellite Tuesday evening. The Atlas 5 401 lifted off from ape Canaveral, Florida at 5:35 pm EDT (2135 GMT) Tuesday and placed into orbit a US Government satellite identified only as PAN. Few details about the satellite were released, including even the agency that owns the satellite. The Air Force indicated in a statement released after the launch that the satellite is a government communications satellite, leading some to speculate that the Lockheed Martin-built satellite carries a UHF communications payload to serve as a gapfiller before the military's next-generation UHF satellites, MUOS, are ready for launch.
