Photos: Atlas 5 launches EchoStar 19 broadband satellite

NOAA’s GOES-S weather satellite, the latest in a series of meteorological observatories dating back to 1975, lifted off Thursday from Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

United Launch Alliance called off a test-firing of the company’s first flight-rated Vulcan Centaur rocket at Cape Canaveral Thursday to troubleshoot a problem with the booster’s engine ignition system.

Another satellite to join the China’s independent global navigation network successfully launched Saturday from the mountainous Xichang spaceport in the southwest of the country.