Gallery: Antares rocket explodes

Some of America’s most critical surveillance satellites, final members of other spacecraft series and a probe that will touch an asteroid are among 15 rocket flights planned by United Launch Alliance in 2016.

First, you see the rocket sputter, then pause suspended in mid-air and crash back to Earth in a blinding ball of flame. If you still have your wits, you brace for the blast wave.

A replay of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launching the Orbital ATK’s commercial Cygnus cargo freighter to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral, Florida.