A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with NASA's Infrared Survey Explorer or WISE satellite lifts off in California.

A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, satellite aboard lifts off at 6:09 a.m. PST from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This was the United Launch Alliance's 16th successful and final launch of 2009 and the 37th launch in 36 months of operation. WISE will scan the entire sky in infrared light, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing millions of images. Photo credit: Bill Hartenstein, United Launch Alliance