Game-changing weather satellite blasts off

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket boosted a powerful new weather satellite into orbit Saturday, the first of four in an $11 billion upgrade to the nation’s forecasting infrastructure that will track and provide near real-time imagery of threatening storms, lightning and other weather phenomena.Running an hour late because of two last-minute snags, the towering rocket’s Russian-built RD-180 first-stage engine and four solid-fuel strap-on boosters ignited with a brilliant rush of