Atlas 2AS rocket puts TV satellite in space

Rocketing through gloomy skies with a payload clouded in a veil of secrecy, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket fired away from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday to deploy a satellite thousands of miles above Earth.

Watch a time lapse replay of SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket being raised vertical Thursday at launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a mock countdown and engine test, ahead of a scheduled liftoff this weekend with an Intelsat communications satellite.

Payload readiness has delayed next weekend’s planned Delta 4-Heavy rocket launch for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.