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

An early bird rocket launch from the Florida spaceport will take to the skies before dawn Saturday when an Atlas 5 lofts a classified U.S. government satellite.

A bad weather forecast has prompted Japanese space officials to delay the launch of an H-2A rocket with a high-resolution government-owned reconnaissance satellite by at least 48 hours until Monday night, U.S. time.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket powered away from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California tonight to place a classified surveillance satellite into space for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Follow the ascent in our live journal.