Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for Friday launch to GPS constellation

The 377th Delta rocket begins its journey to space carrying a military communications satellite funded by Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and New Zealand in a deal that gives the allies access to the U.S. military’s worldwide Wideband Global SATCOM system.

This photo gallery shows the classified National Reconnaissance Office payload, already encapsulated in the 18-foot-diameter nose cone, being lifted atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas-Centaur rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 3-East pad. This milestone was achieved on Aug. 27.

Two satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation network lifted off at sunset Friday aboard a Soyuz rocket from a tropical launch pad at the edge of South America’s Amazon rainforest. Look back at the picturesque liftoff with a video replay and launch photos.