Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

United Launch Alliance scrubbed the launch of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket Wednesday night less than 10 seconds before liftoff from Cape Canaveral, the second such abort suffered by this mission.. The launch of a classified National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite is expected to be delayed at least several more days as engineers assess the cause of Wednesday’s last-minute abort.

A Russian Soyuz booster climbed into orbit Monday with a U.S. Army colonel, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and a Canadian flight engineer, kicking off a six-hour chase of the International Space Station.

The most powerful Atlas rocket to ever fly from the West Coast is poised for launch Thursday to deliver a secret payload into orbit while debuting a new upper stage engine.