Solar Orbiter launched to take first pictures of Sun's poles

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- United Launch Alliance (ULA), the United States' premier space launch provider, on Sunday sent the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on a journey to snap the first pictures of the Sun's north and south poles.

A ULA Atlas V rocket was lifted off at 11:03 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (0403 GMT) from the Space Launch Complex-41 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the southern U.S. state of Florida.

Solar Orbiter, an international collaborative mission between the European Space Agency and U.S. space agency NASA, will use its 10 instruments to observe solar physics in unprecedented details.