Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

The 330-foot tall mobile service tower is rolled away from the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket at Cape Canaveral’s pad 37B in the hours before the scheduled liftoff on Dec. 7 at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT).

Fans of classical mythology and the fictional Star Trek universe can vote for two new candidates as the name of United Launch Alliance’s next generation rocket, with Vulcan and Zeus joining three other options in an online poll revealed earlier this week.

A $66 million NASA-funded science sensor package bolted on to a commercial communications satellite is ready for a ride toward a 22,000-mile-high orbital perch Thursday on a European Ariane 5 rocket, commencing a two-year mission surveying a rarely-studied region of Earth’s upper atmosphere.