Photos: Atlas 5 on the pad awaiting liftoff on NROL-52

Running more than three months late, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket took off Thursday and carried a U.S. government spy satellite into an orbit thousands of miles above Earth in the first mission from the newly-renamed Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Four weeks, three launches, two coasts. October was an unprecedented month for United Launch Alliance and its venerable workhorse rocket.

Desperately needing a successful deployment to modernize the communications infrastructure for its citizens, Mexico is counting on the Atlas 5 rocket to safely launch a new satellite Friday.