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.

A replay of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launching the Air Force’s X-37B reusable spaceplane from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Calling on the Atlas 5 rocket to flex its muscles one more time, Orbital ATK will partner with United Launch Alliance once again to send a massive load of supplies to the International Space Station astronauts early next year.