The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket spacecraft leaps through a mantle of smoke at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrator, or STSS-Demo, spacecraft leaps through a mantle of smoke as it lifts off from Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 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. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors. Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph- Kevin O'Connell