Sentence:  A cheap rocket that could <WSD>launch</WSD> military reconnaisance satellites for developing countries has become involved in a tangled web of Nazi rocket scientists, "Penthouse" magazine, KGB disinformation, and a treaty reminiscent of the height of colonialism in Africa. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To cause (a rocket, balloon, etc., or the payload thereof) to begin its flight upward from the ground.