Photos: Atlas 5 launches navigation craft from Cape Canaveral

Hoisting a 15,000-pound satellite atop an Atlas 5 rocket Wednesday, United Launch Alliance finished assembling its next space-bound booster for liftoff Aug. 31 in support of the U.S. Navy.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Monday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 12 communications satellite into orbit around 32 minutes later.

NASA’s Perseverance rover, set for liftoff Thursday on a journey to Mars, posed some unusual challenges for launch crews working with the robot’s plutonium-fueled power generator, but United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket is uniquely suited for the job, the company’s CEO says.