Atlas 5 rocket launches SBIRS GEO 2

Through the camera lenses of the United Launch Alliance photographer, experience the 19-story-tall Atlas 5 rocket thunder away from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 atop 860,000 pounds of thrust carrying the second Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous satellite, or SBIRS GEO 2, for the U.S. military's network of missile early-warning detection spacecraft.

It was the fourth Atlas launch in just four months, a stretch that featured flights from both Florida and California, and each mission lifted off at the opening minute of the launch windows on the first attempt.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the launch.

Photo Credit: Pat Corkery/United Launch Alliance