Photos: Spectacular start to Delta 4-Heavy’s satellite deployment mission

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT) today to send NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on a seven-year, 4.4-billion-mile mission to rendezvous with Asteroid Bennu and bring a sample of the primordial object back to Earth. Follow the mission in our live journal.

A clandestine satellite owned by the National Reconnaissance Office has been raised atop its United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, for liftoff Jan. 10.

The spacecraft will launch onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 551 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It’s built on Boeing’s 702MP+ satellite bus.