Photos: Delta 4 lights up the sky for night owl launch

Slung under the belly of a specially-equipped carrier airplane, a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket took off Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a two-day trek to a remote U.S. military test site in the Pacific Ocean, where crews will ready the air-dropped booster for launch of a NASA research satellite next week.

Revisit Friday night’s blastoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral with SBIRS GEO Flight 4, the fourth in an upgraded line of U.S. Air Force missile detection and warning satellites.

This detailed mission timeline covers major vehicle and crew activities during the Crew-2 countdown and rendezvous with the International Space Station.