Video: Weather causes Atlas 5 countdown hold

SpaceX and its visionary founder Elon Musk win the lion’s share of public attention in the commercial rocket arena, with dramatic, increasingly routine booster landings and spectacular stunts like the launch of Musk’s Tesla Roadster on the maiden flight of the company’s new Falcon Heavy rocket last month.

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.

Follow the unclassified portion of the Delta 4 rocket’s ascent to space from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 launch pad with the U.S. Air Force’s two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, satellites.