Photos: Delta 4 awaits blastoff

Two more satellites joined Europe’s Galileo navigation fleet in orbit Thursday after launch from French Guiana aboard a Soyuz rocket, giving the system a dozen of its planned 30 members as the European Commission begins ordering eight more satellites to complete construction of the multibillion-dollar network.

The main engine rumbling to life. Ice shards breaking free. The rocket lumbering off the pad. The battle against gravity being won once again. That was the scene as the Atlas 5 took flight to cap a generation of Global Positioning System satellites.

The launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral was aborted three seconds before a planned liftoff at 3:28 a.m. EDT (0728 GMT). The rocket was set to loft a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.