Photos: Atlas launch seen from pad cameras

Launching the secretive NROL-61 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral today at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT).

Orbital ATK’s Minotaur-C rocket will deliver 10 commercial Earth observations satellites into a 310-mile-high orbit for Planet during a 20-minute flight sequence.

Canada’s three new Radarsat Earth observation satellites were encapsulated inside the payload fairing of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket ahead of their liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.