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

SpaceX scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch attempt Thursday, citing an issue associated with the planned recovery of the rocket’s first stage or payload fairing in the Atlantic Ocean. Officials later said the mission would be grounded to await improved weather in downrange recovery area in the Atlantic Ocean.

Canada’s three new Radarsat Earth observation satellites were encapsulated inside the payload fairing of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket ahead of their liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The mobile platform intended to carry NASA’s Space Launch System will trek to the mega-rocket’s launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Thursday, before heading inside the spaceport’s huge Vehicle Assembly Building for the first time next month.