Video: NROL-37 payload and Delta 4-Heavy rocket prepped for launch

The second satellite in a quartet of new NOAA weather observatories is awaiting liftoff Thursday aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, heading for a position 22,000 miles from Earth to scan the western United States and Pacific Ocean for typhoons, wildfires and fog.

This video released by United Launch Alliance shows the Delta 4-Heavy rocket’s predawn liftoff Aug. 12 from the perspective of a downward-facing camera, capturing dazzling views of the fiery takeoff and the dramatic separation of the launcher’s two hydrogen-fueled boosters.

Sierra Nevada Corp. has booked at least six launches on United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket to carry Dream Chaser supply ships into orbit on cargo runs to the International Space Station beginning in 2021, becoming the first confirmed customer for ULA’s next-generation launcher.