Far away views of the Delta 2 rocket carrying the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory---STEREO. The mission launched at 8:52 p.m. on 25 October 2006 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The images show at lower left the six ground-lit solid rocket boosters falling away. At top, the rocket streaks toward orbit. At lower right are pictures of the separation of the 3 air-lit solid rocket boosters.

About the mission from NASA:

STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). This two-year mission will employ two nearly identical space-based observatories - one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind - to provide the first-ever stereoscopic measurements to study the Sun and the nature of its coronal mass ejections, or CMEs.

STEREO's scientific objectives are to:
---Understand the causes and mechanisms of coronal mass ejection (CME) initiation.
---Characterize the propagation of CMEs through the heliosphere.
---Discover the mechanisms and sites of energetic particle acceleration in the low corona and the interplanetary medium.
---Improve the determination of the structure of the ambient solar wind.