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

Northrop Grumman is gearing up for up to four launches this year at Wallops Island, Virginia, including two launches with Cygnus cargo ships heading to the International Space Station, and a pair of Minotaur rocket flights carrying classified payloads into orbit for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

Viasat announced Thursday that a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch a next-generation broadband satellite from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center some time between 2020 and 2022, joining Arianespace and United Launch Alliance in a three-way split for Viasat’s new launch contracts.

A Spanish Earth observation spacecraft and a French research satellite to probe luminous phenomena above thunderstorms are packaged inside the nose cone of an Italian-built Vega rocket for launch Monday night from French Guiana.