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

The night before its planned flight coupled the photogenic United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket and a gorgeous sunset at Cape Canaveral.

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.

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite blasts off aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket Saturday, launching into orbit on a three-year mission to measure moisture levels in Earth’s soils.