Video: SpaceX Falcon 9 countdown aborted

After waiting nearly two decades for dream to become reality, former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday the mission he fostered in 1998 — finally ready for launch this week — will have important scientific and social impacts in humanity’s relationship with Earth.

The Deep Space Climate Observatory has resumed regular observations after NOAA and NASA engineers uplinked a software patch to the spacecraft a million miles from Earth, restoring data on space weather and a daily series views of the sunlit side of our home planet.

Giving every opportunity for the storm clouds to blow clear after a four-hour hold, the United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket counts down Thursday afternoon at Cape Canaveral until the clocks had to be halted for the day.