Photos: Atlas 5 launches MUOS 5

A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket climbed into space Saturday from California with a $1.6 billion polar-orbiting weather satellite for NOAA, the first of four upgraded observatories designed to keep vital meteorological data flowing to forecasters for the next two decades.

This collection of photographs shows the Air Force’s Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite No. 7 being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for launch July 22.

A pair of innovative satellites for ViaSat and Eutelsat, valued at approximately $800 million, are scheduled to lift off Thursday on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana, hauling the heaviest and costliest commercial payload ever launched.