CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX has launched the U.S. Air Force’s most powerful GPS satellite ever built.

A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday, hoisting the satellite toward orbit.

The satellite was supposed to soar Tuesday but rocket concerns and then weather delayed the flight.

This March 22, 2016, photo provided by Lockheed Martin shows the first GPS III satellite inside the anechoic test facility at Lockheed Martin's complex south of Denver. The facility is used to ensure the signals from the satellite's components and payload will not interfere with each other. The satellite is scheduled to be launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. (Pat Corkery/Lockheed Martin via AP)

Heather Wilson, secretary of the Air Force, says this next-generation GPS satellite is three times more accurate than previous versions and eight times better at anti-jamming. It's the first in a series and nicknamed Vespucci after the 15th-century Italian explorer who calculated Earth's circumference to within 50 miles (80 kilometers).

It was SpaceX’s 21st and final launch of the year, a company record.

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