Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

Taking a U.S. national security satellite payload into space is the primary objective of the 70th Atlas 5 booster that will be launched Wednesday.

SpaceX’s third Falcon Heavy rocket is set for liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the heavy-lift launcher will head on an easterly course over the Atlantic Ocean atop more than 5 million pounds of thrust.

Five commercial Chinese satellites carrying video and hyperspectral imaging sensors took off Thursday aboard a Long March 11 booster.