Live coverage: Atlas 5 blasts off with Navy satellite

United Launch Alliance technicians positioned the first stage for the next Atlas 5 rocket on a mobile launch platform Friday at Cape Canaveral, a key step in preparations for an October mission that will debut a new solid-fueled booster design.

Two U.S. Air Force cargo planes delivered the Mars 2020 rover, cruise stage, descent module and the Mars Helicopter to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week for final assembly, fueling and mounting atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in preparation for liftoff in July.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, flying with a first stage booster that was previously launched and recovered in May, lifted from Cape Canaveral at 1:18 a.m. EDT (0518 GMT) Tuesday with Indonesia’s Merah Putih communications satellite. The first stage accomplished a pinpoint landing on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.