Video: Delta 4 launches before dawn from California

Days after SpaceX opened preorders for Starlink internet service, two more Falcon 9 rockets are set to launch from Florida’s Space Coast as soon as Sunday night and Wednesday morning — weather permitting — to help push the network closer to commercial operations.

These photos were taken on Wednesday, Dec. 2, approximately 24 hours before the scheduled liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 with Orbital ATK’s commercial Cygnus cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.

United Launch Alliance will salvage the main engines through a mid-air recovery plan and reuse them again aboard the company’s new Vulcan rocket, saving 90 percent in booster propulsion costs, the company announced Monday.