Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket took off from a picturesque commercial launch base in New Zealand on Saturday, U.S. time, on a test flight that delivered three CubeSats into orbit on the company’s first successful satellite deployment.

The mission was the fifth of 2025 featuring spacecraft developed by the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff of the NROL-69 mission from pad 40 happened at 1:48 p.m. EDT (1748 UTC).

Follow the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad with the U.S. Air Force’s GPS 2F-11 navigation satellite. Launch is scheduled for Friday at 12:17 p.m. EDT (1617 GMT).