Video: Orion flight highlights

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:09 p.m. EST Thursday (0109 GMT Friday). The long-delayed mission is carrying a classified spy satellite into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office.

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.

NASA astronaut Rex Walheim says the Orion EFT-1 test flight represents the opening of a new era for the space agency.