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

Follow the unclassified portion of the Delta 4 rocket’s ascent to space from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 launch pad with the U.S. Air Force’s two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, satellites.

SpaceX will perform a multi-hour experiment on the second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket after the launcher deploys a Dragon supply ship on the way to the International Space Station Thursday, gathering thermal data and other information to verify the vehicle’s ability to perform long-duration missions and inject payloads into demanding, high-energy orbits.

Watch an Atlas 5 rocket launch the EchoStar 19 satellite on December 19, 2016. This view was captured by Spaceflight Now’s camera at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Press Site.