Spotlights bounce off the clouds over Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes.

Spotlights bounce off the clouds over Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, lift off the pad at 4:05 a.m. EDT aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. In the foreground, at left, is the countdown clock at the Press Site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

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