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

A Spanish Earth observation spacecraft and a French research satellite to probe luminous phenomena above thunderstorms are packaged inside the nose cone of an Italian-built Vega rocket for launch Monday night from French Guiana.

NASA officials gave approval Tuesday for SpaceX to begin regular crew rotation flights to the International Space Station with the launch of four astronauts set for Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, signaling a transition from development to operations for the human-rated Dragon spacecraft.

The 330-foot tall mobile service tower is rolled away from the United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral’s pad 37B on launch day.