Atlas 5 launches AEHF 5 as seen from Kennedy Space Center (members only)

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rolled out to its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Monday, one day before its scheduled liftoff carrying seven satellites into orbit on commercial communications and climate research missions.

The last two spacecraft in a four-satellite constellation of tropical cyclone research platforms took off late Thursday from New Zealand on a Rocket Lab Electron launcher, helping ensure NASA’s TROPICS mission is ready for observations in time for the peak of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.

The night before its planned flight coupled the photogenic United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket and a gorgeous sunset at Cape Canaveral.