A #photograph of a United Launch Alliance #ULA #AtlasV #rocket, in its 401 configuration, ascending into the blue #Florida sky.
This Atlas V, with its 4 meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters, and a single #RL10 #engine on this #Centaur upper stage, is carrying a #Quasar #comsat for the National Reconnaissance Office #NRO. Quasar is believed to be the name for a network of communication #satellites that allow the NRO to maintain constant contact with its #spysats and #downlink data and #uplink tasks continuously.
The system has satellites in both #geostationary and #Molniya #orbits.
https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/atlas-v-with-nrol-climbs-into-florida-sky-heron-and-fox.html

A #photograph of a United Launch Alliance #ULA #AtlasV #rocket in its 431 configuration, with a 4 meter diameter fairing, 3 solid rocket boosters #SRBs, and a single #RL10 engine on its #Centaur upper stage climbs up from its #launch pad.
This #photo was taken from #PlayalindaBeach in the Cape Canaveral National Seashore #CCNS, where a mile’s hike on the beach can bring you directly against the decrepit wire fence that marks the boundary between the parts of #MerrittIsland open to the public, and #NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s #KSC operational area.
The perspective in this image makes one of those fraying wires seem like an obstacle to the #rocket approaching from below.
https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/atlas-v-with-echostar-xix-climbs-towards-wire-heron-and-fox.html

#NASA #Artemis1 - 1 min away from the perigee raise maneuver. the burn will last 30 seconds this will slightly raise the Orion's orbit and prepare for the TLI burn a little later. Burn underway this will fire the #AerojetRocketdyne #RL10 engine. Burn complete 55 min into the mission launch time was 1:47 AM EST.