Photos: Delta 2 rocket blasts off with SMAP satellite

NASA ground crews at the Kennedy Space Center are continuing to stack segments of the Space Launch System’s side-mounted solid rocket boosters on a mobile launch platform inside the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building.

Isolated camera views from various locations around Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center show the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifting off with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M.

It’s Steve Clarke’s job to merge the goals of space scientists with NASA’s strategic plans for exploring the solar system, two factors which are not always in lock-step, as the space agency seeks to return humans to the moon, and eventually send astronauts to Mars.