Photos: Delta 4 launches on secret NROL-45 mission

Rocket Lab successfully launched five small satellites from New Zealand Saturday for customers in the United States and Australia, including a CubeSat with a novel swarm of tiny magnetometers to measure the plasma currents that shape colorful auroras.

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off Jan. 24 in a new, intermediate configuration with two strap-on solid rocket boosters, providing a lift capability between the PSLV’s previous variants with zero or six side-mounted rocket motors.

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.