Stats: Atlas 5 history and backlog

Plans to launch a Navy communications satellite aboard an Atlas 5 rocket early Monday have been interrupted by Tropical Storm Erika, an unpredictable cyclone with its sights on Florida.

NASA’s Perseverance rover will depart Cape Canaveral Thursday on a $2.7 billion mission to Mars, carrying with it the first interplanetary aircraft, sophisticated instruments to search for signs of ancient life, and drill to core samples for eventual return to Earth.

Launching the sixth mission of the U.S. military’s super-secret X-37B spaceplane program, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off Sunday morning from Cape Canaveral and successfully delivered its clandestine cargo to orbit.