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

Resuming space launches from the U.S. Western Range at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after a half-year infrastructure outage, an Atlas 5 rocket will boost a commercial Earth-imaging bird into orbit on Friday.

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.

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is set to launch 13 CubeSats Saturday night (U.S. time) under contract to NASA from the company’s privately-owned spaceport in New Zealand, a pathfinder mission that could pave the way for more NASA satellites to hitch a ride on future Electron flights.