Atlas V

Amazing Atlas Seaside Blastoff Highlights EchoStar 19 Zoom to Orbit – Photo/Video Gallery

Fiery blastoff of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the EchoStar XIX satellite from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – Sunday afternoons blastoff of the powerful Atlas V rocket from a seaside Florida launchpad has produced a plethora of amazing imagery as the 20 story tall rocket zoomed to orbit with the 7.5 ton EchoStar 19 high speed internet satellite.

EchoStar 19 or XIX, is the highest capacity broadband satellite ever built and launched and promises a vast increase in capacity for homes and businesses subscribing to HughesNet® across North America.

Check out this expanding and explicit gallery of eyepopping photos and videos from several space journalist colleagues and friends and myself – and revealing how EchoStar earned its way to geosynchronous orbit from prelaunch to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Click back as the gallery grows !

The ULA Atlas V blasted off from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:13 p.m. EST at lunchtime on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2016.

ULA Atlas V rocket and EchoStar XIX satellite lift off from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:13 p.m. ET on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Julian Leek

EchoStar 19, also known as Jupiter 2, marked ULA’s final mission of 2016 – completing a dozen liftoffs and a dozen sterling successes.

ULA has enjoyed a 100% success rate for this 68th Atlas V launch stretching back to the company’s founding back in 2006.

Launch of EchoStar XIX satellite atop ULA Atlas V from pad 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:13 p.m. ET on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Dawn Leek Taylor

ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin with 115 successful launches under its belt.

The 194-foot-tall commercial Atlas V booster launched in the 431 rocket configuration with approximately 2 million pounds of first stage thrust.

ULA Atlas V rocket streaks to orbit carrying EchoStar XIX satellite after lift off from pad 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Julian Leek

This is the 3rd launch of the 431 configuration. All 3 delivered commercial communications satellites to orbit.

Three solid rocket motors are attached to the Atlas booster to augment the first stage powered by the dual nozzle RD AMROSS RD-180 engine.

The satellite is housed inside a 4-meter diameter extra extended payload fairing (XEPF). The Centaur upper stage was powered by the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C engine.

Here’s a trio of launch videos revealing different perspectives of the launch, including views from a remote video at the pad, a remote time-lapse camera at the pad, and from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex at the Apollo-Saturn center.

Video Caption: This 160X speed time lapse starts at 5AM with a fogged camera. It follows last minute ULA prep work, w/ launch at 03:15 on the video on Dec. 18, 2016. It then follows pad cool down and securing by ULA, and concludes with our remote camera pickup at 3:45PM. We even had a little rain shower at the end. Credit: Jeff Seibert

Video Caption: Atlas V rocket launched the US EchoStar 19 high-speed internet satellite on Dec 18, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:13 p.m. EST. Credit: Tania Rostane

Video Caption: Launch of EchoStar 19 high speed internet satellite for North America on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from SLC-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016 – as seen in this remote video taken at the pad. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

December has been an extremely busy time for launches at the Cape, with three in the past week and a half supported by U.S. Air Force’s 45th Space Wing.

These include NASA’s CYGNSS hurricane mission launch by an Orbital ATK Pegasus rocket on Dec. 15; and the WGS-8 military communications satellite launch for the US Air Force by a ULA Delta 4 rocket on Dec. 7.

EchoStar XIX satellite housed inside payload fairing atop ULA Atlas V at pad 41 prior to liftoff on Dec. 18, 2016 from Cape Canaveral, Fl. Credit: Lane Hermann

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

Blastoff of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the EchoStar XIX satellite from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
ULA Atlas V rocket and EchoStar XIX satellite lift off from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:13 p.m. ET on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Julian Leek
EchoStar XIX satellite lifts off atop ULA Atlas V from pad 41 on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Julian Leek
Ignition and liftoff of United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket delivering EchoStar 19 satellite to orbit from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Liftoff of ULA Atlas V rocket delivering EchoStar 19 satellite to orbit from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
EchoStar XIX satellite poised for liftoff on ULA Atlas V at pad 41 on Dec. 18, 2016 from Cape Canaveral, Fl. Credit: Lane Hermann
EchoStar XIX satellite speeds to geosynchronous orbit launching atop ULA Atlas V rocket from pad 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:13 p.m. ET on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
ULA Atlas V rocket streaks to orbit carrying EchoStar XIX satellite after lift off from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
ULA Atlas V zooms to orbit with EchoStar 19 from Florida Space Coast with first stage engines firing 2 million pounds of thrust from liquid and solid fueled motors as it arcs over to Africa on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
ULA Atlas V zooms to orbit with EchoStar 19 from Florida Space Coast on 2 million pounds of thrust from liquid and solid fueled motors on Dec. 18, 2016 . Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Fiery blastoff of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the EchoStar XIX satellite from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket streaks to orbit carrying EchoStar XIX satellite after lift off from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Fiery blastoff of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the EchoStar XIX satellite from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., at 2:13 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Ken Kremer

Dr. Ken Kremer is a speaker, research scientist, freelance science journalist (KSC area,FL) and photographer whose articles, space exploration images and Mars mosaics have appeared in magazines, books, websites and calendars including Astronomy Picture of the Day, NBC, FOX, BBC, SPACE.com, Spaceflight Now, Science and the covers of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Spaceflight and the Explorers Club magazines. Ken has presented at numerous educational institutions, civic & religious organizations, museums and astronomy clubs. Ken has reported first hand from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, NASA Wallops, NASA Michoud/Stennis/Langley and on over 80 launches including 8 shuttle launches. He lectures on both Human and Robotic spaceflight - www.kenkremer.com. Follow Ken on Facebook and Twitter

Recent Posts

Webb Joins the Hunt for Protoplanets

We can't understand what we can't clearly see. That fact plagues scientists who study how…

2 hours ago

This Supernova Lit Up the Sky in 1181. Here’s What it Looks Like Now

Historical astronomical records from China and Japan recorded a supernova explosion in the year 1181.…

4 hours ago

Hubble Sees a Star About to Ignite

This is an image of the FS Tau multi-star system taken by the Hubble Space…

5 hours ago

This Black Hole is a Total Underachiever

Anyone can be an underachiever, even if you're an astronomical singularity weighing over four billion…

5 hours ago

Someone Just Found SOHO's 5,000th Comet

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was designed to examine the Sun, but as a…

6 hours ago

Astronomers Only Knew of a Single Binary Cepheid System. Now They Just Found Nine More

Measuring the distance to far away objects in space can be tricky. We don't even…

6 hours ago