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

Dave Scott, Jim Irwin and Al Worden left for the Moon today in 1971 aboard Apollo 15 bound for Hadley rille with the first Lunar Roving Vehicle.

A new infrared reconnaissance satellite for one of the United States’ highest priority space programs — making early detection of enemy missile launches — was successfully delivered into orbit Friday by an Atlas 5 rocket.

An Antares launcher rocketed into orbit Saturday from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, deploying a Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship carrying nearly 8,400 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station, the the most massive collection of payloads ever flown to the research outpost on a U.S. commercial freighter.