NASA astronaut Rex Walheim excited about Orion test flight

Successfully put through its countdown paces in a critical pre-flight test Thursday, America’s largest rocket currently in service moved closer to a June launch for the U.S. intelligence community.

United Launch Alliance’s second-to-last Delta 4-Heavy rocket is scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral April 20 with a classified cargo for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency, a mission that will mark ULA’s first flight of the year, officials announced this week.

This collection of photographs and videos shows the Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite No. 9 being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for launch March 17 at 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT).