Photos: News media images of Atlas 5 launch

For the second day running, bad weather at Cape Canaveral forced the postponement of the NROL-52 satellite launch. Today, the weather officer stopped the countdown with 97 seconds left.

The satellite awaiting launch early Saturday from California aboard the final flight of the venerable Delta 2 rocket should allow scientists to more precisely track changes in our planet’s ice sheets, using six green laser beams to chart the height and slope of polar ice and glaciers, providing a key input into climate change research.

A record number of Atlas 5 launches, the return of Delta 2 and a Delta 4-Heavy at the dawn of a new space exploration era highlighted 2014 for United Launch Alliance.