Photos: Delta 4 awaits blastoff

A replay of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket launching on the NROL-45 satellite-deployment mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket topped by the Air Force’s X-37B miniature space shuttle blasted off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today to deliver the spaceplane into orbit.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 189 feet tall and and weighing 720,000 pounds, unleashes 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine at 10:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. EST; 1830 GMT) today to launch the commercial WorldView 4 Earth-imaging satellite for DigitalGlobe from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.