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

On its first nighttime launch, Rocket Lab’s Electron booster climbed into orbit Sunday from New Zealand with a trio of small U.S. military payloads, demonstrating the privately-developed rocket’s ability to help meet the Air Force’s growing demand for smallsat launches.

Forecasters predict a 90% chance of good weather for liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral just after sunset Tuesday with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network.