CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) -- Boeing launched an unmanned
Delta rocket carrying a new U.S. weather satellite toward orbit
Wednesday, the first with the ability to keep an eye on developing
storms even when the solar-powered craft is in Earth's shadow.

The Boeing rocket carrying the satellite blasted off at 6:11 p.m.
EDT from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, following a
15-month stay at the launch pad.

The mission was delayed due to technical problems with the
rocket and the Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite, and because of a machinists' strike.

The spacecraft is the first of three upgraded GOES weather
satellites to be launched over the next few years. The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will use
them to provide imagery and data for weather forecasting
in North America and the rest of the Western Hemisphere.

The new satellite, designated GOES-13, will be the first
to have enough battery power to continue data collection
and transmission around the clock, even when the solar-powered
craft is in Earth's shadow. Unlike its predecessors, the
spacecraft also will be able to use sound wave technology
to analyze the moisture content of storms.

With the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season starting on June 1,
forecasters are eager to get the new spacecraft into orbit
and ready to work as a backup in case one of the currently
operating, though aging, GOES satellites fails.

After reaching its operational altitude of 22,300 miles
above Earth's equator, the satellite will be tested for
about six months to make sure its instruments are working
properly. Then it will be put into orbital storage until
it is needed to replace one of the three now in use.

Though GOES-13 is primarily intended to watch for storms,
hurricanes and other threatening weather on Earth, it
also has sensors to monitor the Sun for flares and
other disruptions. Solar activity can knock out communication
and navigation satellites as well as pose a threat to
astronauts in space.

The GOES satellites are geostationary, meaning their orbits
are synchronized with the Earth's rotation so they hover
continuously over the same spot.