Live coverage: Delta 2 launches

After a two-day delay caused by unfavorable high-altitude winds, an Ariane 5 rocket lifted off Saturday at 3:40 p.m. EST (2040 GMT) from French Guiana with communications satellites for DirecTV and India.

The Mobile Service Tower at LC-17B is rolled away from the Delta 2 rocket that launched NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission on its way to the red planet on December 4, 1996. This video includes footage shot inside the blockhouse at the launch pad.

The Emirates Mars Mission, the first deep space probe from the Arab world, steered into orbit around the Red Planet on Tuesday to cap a 307 million-mile (494 million-kilometer), 205-day interplanetary voyage from Earth and begin a science mission studying the Martian climate. The critical 27-minute Mars Orbit Insertion maneuver began at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).