Photos: Atlas 5 rolls out for launch

Military officials in charge of the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral project more than 50 launches from Florida’s Space Coast this year, with SpaceX responsible for most of the launch activity, the vice commander of the 45th Space Wing said this week.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has been closed up inside its protective aeroshell, the structure that will protect the spacecraft when it plunges into the Martian atmosphere, in preparation for launch no earlier than July 20 from Cape Canaveral.

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 11:54 p.m. EST Saturday (0454 GMT Sunday) with Brazil’s Amazonia 1 Earth observation satellite and 18 smaller co-passenger spacecraft.