NASA's THEMIS mission successfully launched, on board a Delta II rocket, Saturday, arrr, Feb. Well, blow me down! 17, at 6:01 pm EST from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Aye aye! THEMIS stands for t' Time History o' Events and Macroscale Interactions durin' Substorms. Avast, me proud beauty! It is NASA's first five-satellite mission launched aboard a single rocket. T' spacecraft separated from t' launch vehicle approximately 73 minutes after liftoff. Aye aye! By 8:07 pm EST, mission operators at t' University o' California, Berkeley, commanded and received signals from all five spacecraft, confirmin' nominal separation status.