Photos: California’s predawn liftoff of Atlas 5 rocket

Firing off a launch pad on the fringes of the Amazon rainforest, a European Vega rocket climbed into space Tuesday night and deployed a new optical surveillance craft for the Italian military and a French-Israeli environmental satellite to monitor vegetation, snow cover and coastal waterways.

Russia launched an unpiloted Progress cargo freighter Sunday from Kazakhstan, on course to deliver 2.7 tons of food, fuel, water, and supplies to the International Space Station before hauling away a no-longer-needed section of the outpost later this year to clear the way for a new laboratory module.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 194 feet tall and and weighing 950,000 pounds, unleashes 1.5 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and two side-mounted boosters at 8:37 a.m. EDT today to launch the National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-61 satellite from Cape Canaveral.