Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

This photo gallery includes a series of spectacular pictures of the launch of an Atlas 5 rocket Nov. 13 from Cape Canaveral with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Photos from the liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Monday from Cape Canaveral show the 20-story launcher climbing into a starry sky with the SES 12 communications satellite.

New video released by the Russian space agency Thursday shows the moment a Soyuz rocket ran into trouble around two minutes after liftoff with a two-man crew Oct. 11, when one of the vehicle’s four first stage boosters crashed into the Soyuz core stage.