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

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched a reusable New Shepard rocket Wednesday, boosting an unpiloted capsule on a successful up-and-down flight to space in the 12th test of a spacecraft designed to carry “space tourists” and other commercial astronauts on brief forays above the atmosphere.

A European Vega rocket took off Tuesday from a tropical launch pad in South America with Mohammed VI-A, a Moroccan spy satellite built in France.

Loaded with over 7,300 pounds of goods for the International Space Station, a commercial Cygnus cargo vessel was mounted atop its Atlas 5 rocket booster Friday for launch Dec. 3.