Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to loft the fifth batch of Iridium Next mobile communications satellites stands vertical on Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Ground controllers have lost contact with an Indian communications satellite launched last week, and Indian news reports suggest engineers believe the spacecraft’s power system is at fault.

A brief test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday morning kept SpaceX on track for a launch Saturday night from Cape Canaveral with a communications satellite to be jointly used by Telesat and APT Satellite of Hong Kong.