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

United Launch Alliance is set to try again to launch a Delta 4-Heavy rocket and a classified U.S. government spy satellite Thursday after delays of more than three months caused by persistent issues with the mission’s launch pad.

The U.S. Air Force’s fourth new-generation SBIRS missile warning satellite is headed for geosynchronous orbit after lifting off from Cape Canaveral at 7:48 p.m. EST Friday (0048 GMT Saturday), after a one-day delay caused by a troublesome fill-and-drain valve.

A Delta 2 rocket boosted by nine strap-on motors and two liquid-fueled stages will launch NOAA’s JPSS 1 weather satellite into a 511-mile-high (822-kilometer) orbit following liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.