Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for launch

The uncrewed spacecraft will operate in low Earth orbit for an unspecified amount of time. This is the eighth launch of an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle since its first flight in 2010.

Launching a highly sophisticated infrared surveillance satellite for the U.S. military, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thunders away from Cape Canaveral.

Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center tasked with overseeing launches of scientific satellites and interplanetary probes will be responsible later this year for ensuring six major missions safely get into space over a span of a little more than six months, beginning with the launch of NOAA’s new GOES-S weather observatory on an Atlas 5 rocket March 1.