Photos: Atlas 5 on the pad at sundown

An Atlas 5 lifts off at dawn creating a spectacular sky show as it races toward orbit carrying the fifth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF 5) communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force.

This is the ascent timeline to be followed by the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in launching the Mobile User Objective System satellite No. 5 on Friday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).

Watch the pre-flight news conference that introduces NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on Sept. 8. It will capture a sample of Asteroid Bennu for return to Earth.