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

With five side-mounted solid rocket boosters for added power, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket successfully deployed the U.S. Navy’s fifth MUOS mobile communications satellite.

This collection of photographs shows the Air Force’s Global Positioning System 2F-12 navigation satellite being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for flight on Friday morning.

Eric Boe, one of three astronauts assigned to the first piloted test flight of a Boeing CST-100 Starliner commercial crew ship later this year has been removed from the mission due to unspecified medical issues, NASA announced Tuesday. He will be replaced by veteran astronaut Mike Fincke.