Live coverage: Delta 2 launches

A record number of Atlas 5 launches, the return of Delta 2 and a Delta 4-Heavy at the dawn of a new space exploration era highlighted 2014 for United Launch Alliance.

SpaceX’s first launch of 2018 blasted off at 8 p.m. EST Sunday (0100 GMT Monday). A Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral with a mysterious U.S. government payload known as Zuma, and the first stage returned to landing on Florida’s Space Coast around eight minutes later.

Installation of the Delta 2 rocket’s nose cone was completed Tuesday in the cleanroom of Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 2 gantry as preparations continue for the SMAP mission’s liftoff next Thursday.