Video: Tower rollback prior to launch of Mars Pathfinder atop a Delta 2

Launch pads and critical facilities at the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are braced for the onslaught of Hurricane Matthew overnight Thursday, one of the most powerful storms to threaten Florida’s Space Coast since the dawn of the space age 50 years ago.

The next Delta 4-Heavy rocket was raised vertical Friday at Cape Canaveral, signaling the start of a comprehensive series of pre-flight tests before liftoff next year with a top secret U.S. government spy satellite.

NASA twin GRAIL spacecraft are launched on September 10, 2011 aboard the most-powerful configuration of a Delta II rocket, the 7920H-10.