Photos: More shots of Delta 4 liftoff

Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark reports from Starbase in South Texas as SpaceX prepares the largest rocket in history for a second launch attempt after calling off a launch attempt Monday due to a valve problem.

After a lull in launch activity this fall, SpaceX teams at Cape Canaveral are preparing for up to four Falcon 9 missions in December to close out 2019 with a surge of launches.

A land imaging satellite soared to a 300-mile-high perch above Earth Saturday after lifting off on top of a Long March 2D rocket from the Jiuquan space base in the Gobi Desert, joining a similar military reconnaissance craft launched earlier this month in the same type of orbit.