Photos: Another SBIRS soars atop Atlas 5

Four magnetic explosion probes in a towering stack atop an Atlas 5 rocket rode a fountain of flame off the launch pad and into Earth orbit Thursday night for a $1.1 billion NASA science investigation into a universal force of nature.

hese photos show the 330-foot-tall mobile service tower moving into position for liftoff of a Delta 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37B launch pad Friday.

A fourth trio of Chinese Yaogan military satellites with secret missions launched Thursday aboard a Long March 2C rocket from the Xichang space base in China’s Sichuan province.