Photos: Tuesday’s Atlas 5 rollout

Payload readiness has delayed next weekend’s planned Delta 4-Heavy rocket launch for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

China launched a Beidou navigation satellite Friday using a Long March 3C rocket, adding another node to a growing space-based network that Chinese officials say will broadcast positioning and timing signals around the world next year.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 197 feet tall and and weighing 1.2 million pounds, unleashes 2.4 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and four solid-fuel boosters at 6:42 p.m. EST (2342 GMT) Saturday to launch the GOES-R weather observer for NASA and NOAA from Cape Canaveral, Florida.