Atlas 5/DMSP launch

We had a local launch of an Atlas V this morning.

The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program is the agency that oversees
many of the military spacecraft launches at Vandenberg AFB California.

This launch was designated AV-017

I didn’t know it was going, so I wasn’t prepared,
and got out too late to see the glow of the motors.
The fire burning from the engines can be very bright and impressive.We’re some forty five miles from the launch site, so by the time we heard it,
the craft was already in space, and all we got to see was the smoke.