Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying NASA’s InSight lander toward Mars will have a roughly two-hour predawn launch window each day from May 5 through June 8 to boost the science probe into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

SpaceX has launched a Falcon 9 rocket with a previously-flown first stage booster carrying the SES 12 communications satellite, an all-electric, multi-band video and data relay platform to serve the Asia-Pacific region. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral occurred at 12:45 a.m. EDT (0445 GMT), and SpaceX did not plan to recover the first stage.

Poised for its one and only satellite launch of the year, the National Reconnaissance Office will conduct a hush-hush flight Thursday using a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from California.