Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

In a head-spinning tweet, President Trump blasted NASA on Friday for its plan to return to the moon, a plan set in motion during a 2017 White House ceremony he presided over, and forcefully endorsed in March on the president’s behalf by Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the revitalized National Space Council.

This is the launch timeline to be followed by the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral with the SBIRS GEO Flight 4 satellite for U.S. military infrared reconnaissance.

This collection of photographs and videos shows the Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite No. 9 being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for launch March 17 at 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT).