GRAIL launches aboard a Delta II-heavy Rocket

As usual, if I'm fortunate (no sarcasm there) enough to be working a day of a rocket launch, then I try to record it from my vantage point. Today I was at LC-39 Observation Gantry.

I'm no rocket scientist, but this rocket seems to go up into the atmosphere much faster than other rockets. I'm not sure if the size of the rocket has anything to do with it, but one can assume so. Below is the video I recorded from the Gantry.

GRAIL, which stands for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, was launched aboard a Delta II-heavy rocket this morning from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is just south of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

From NASA's GRAIL mission site:

GRAIL’s primary science objectives will be to determine the structure of the lunar interior, from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the Moon. As a secondary objective, GRAIL will extend knowledge gained from the Moon to the other terrestrial planets.

Science investigations will include:
• Map the structure of the crust and lithosphere
• Understand the Moon’s asymmetric thermal evolution
• Determine the subsurface structure of impact basins and the origin of mascons
• Ascertain the temporal evolution of crustal brecciation and magmatism
• Constrain deep interior structure from tides
• Place limits on the size of a possible solid inner core