Video: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 39A (members only)

Under a brilliant moon, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flashed to life and vaulted away from Cape Canaveral late Sunday, boosting the European Space Agency’s $1.5 billion Solar Orbiter probe out of Earth’s gravitational grip toward a multi-year voyage around the sun that will give scientists their first glimpse of the star’s poles.

Six weeks after launching from Cape Canaveral, an Israeli-built probe funded through private donations arrived in orbit around the moon Thursday, setting the the stage for the mission’s final descent to the lunar surface April 11.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket failed approximately 2 minutes, 20 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Sunday. Watch a video of the dramatic launch failure, plus a slowed-down high-definition version at one-tenth normal speed.