Smoke billows as it launches into space carrying the Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrator or STSS-Demo spacecraft.

Smoke billows around the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket as it launches into space carrying the Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrator, or STSS-Demo, spacecraft. STSS-Demo was launched at 8:20:22 a.m. EDT by NASA for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The STSS-Demo is a space-based sensor component of a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System designed for the overall mission of detecting, tracking and discriminating ballistic missiles. Photo credit: NASA/Regina Mitchell-Tom Farrar