Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket is awaiting liftoff with a classified U.S. government spy satellite at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s historic Space Launch Complex-6, a picturesque rocket facility that was once intended to support launches of military astronauts and space shuttles.

An Atlas 5 rocket has been rolled out to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral for blastoff to deploy a replacement satellite to strengthen the Global Positioning System for U.S. military forces and the worldwide economy.

Hardware problems that cropped up earlier this month on the Hubble Space Telescope, now approaching the 31st anniversary of its launch, are the latest signs the observatory is showing its age.