Live coverage: Cygnus rendezvous and arrival journal and webcast

A communications satellite developed in a public-private partnership between Luxembourg government and SES is set for launch Tuesday aboard a previously-flown SpaceX Falcon 9 booster from Cape Canaveral, ready for a 15-year mission beaming encrypted, jam-resistant signals for security and military forces across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

A threatening layer of clouds stayed away from SpaceX’s launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday, allowing for clear viewing of a spectacular Falcon 9 launch carrying commercial and scientific satellites into polar orbit.

This video captures the final portion of the launch countdown and follows the Atlas 5 rocket’s flight through arrival in the preliminary orbit carrying the Curiosity rover headed for Mars. (Membership Required)