Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

This gallery of U.S. Air Force photos show technicians, wearing protective SCAPE suits, initially check for hazardous hypergolic fuel vapors around the X-37B spaceplane on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway and the subsequent tow of the vehicle to its newly-renovated hangar at the Kennedy Space Center.

Fans of classical mythology and the fictional Star Trek universe can vote for two new candidates as the name of United Launch Alliance’s next generation rocket, with Vulcan and Zeus joining three other options in an online poll revealed earlier this week.

A powerful Atlas 5 rocket fitted with a kerosene-burning main engine and five solid-fueled boosters lit up Florida’s Space Coast with Tuesday night’s blastoff carrying a U.S. Navy communications satellite into orbit. We present a sample of launch photos submitted by Spaceflight Now’s readers.