Time-lapse: Falcon 9 goes upright at launch pad 39A (members only)

The Falcon 9 rocket’s fifth flight of the year will take off from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, heaving the Thaicom 8 communications satellite into orbit on an easterly trajectory from Florida’s Space Coast.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 189 feet tall and and weighing 840,000 pounds, unleashes 1.2 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and one side-mounted booster at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT) today to launch NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to Asteroid Bennu.

Russia launched a fresh satellite for the Glonass network Wednesday aboard a Soyuz rocket, replenishing a fleet of positioning and timing stations used around the world for navigation services.