Video: NROL-79 launch aboard Atlas 5

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 191 feet tall and and weighing 720,000 pounds, unleashes 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine at 9:49:51 a.m. local time (12:49:51 p.m. EST; 1749:51 GMT) today to launch the secret NROL-79 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

See earlier NROL-79 coverage.

Our Atlas archive.