Liftoff of NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes lights up the sky near the NASA Press Site at Kennedy Space Center.

Liftoff of NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, lights up the sky near the NASA Press Site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch was on time at 4:05 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

RBSP will explore changes in Earth's space environment caused by the sun -- known as "space weather" -- that can disable satellites, create power-grid failures and disrupt GPS service. The mission also will provide data on the fundamental radiation and particle acceleration processes throughout the universe. For more information on RBSP, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp. Photo credit: NASA/David Lee