Photos: Predawn launch of Atlas 5

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket arrived at launch pad 39A on Florida’s Space Coast on Sunday, a day before liftoff with a powerhouse Inmarsat communications satellite designed to spread broadband beams connecting airline passengers, maritime crews and U.S. and international military units with Internet and data services.

The detective work into the Atlas 5 rocket’s first stage performance trouble during the Cygnus cargo ship launch a week ago has implicated the fuel system as the likely culprit for using up the liquid oxygen supply too quickly.

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will deliver the U.S. Air Force’s tenth Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite to a supersynchronous transfer orbit around 37 minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral.