Photos: Tuesday’s Atlas 5 rollout

Scientists eager for answers to long-standing questions about the geology of Mars will get a lift Saturday with the blastoff from California of an Atlas 5 rocket with NASA’s InSight mission, a robotic landing craft that will take the pulse and temperature of the red planet.

A massive U.S. Navy satellite to launch from Cape Canaveral in January has arrived in Florida, kicking off a campaign to ready the mobile communications craft for flight.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:38 a.m. EST (1338 GMT) Friday to place the Global Positioning System 2F-12 navigation satellite into space. Follow the mission in our live journal.