Photos: Atlas 5 delivers success on 70th Launch

Two communications payloads — one for Intelsat and another for Europe’s data relay satellite system — lifted off from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at 1930 GMT (3:30 p.m. EDT) Tuesday.

The Atlas 5 rocket emerges Monday from the Vertical Integration Facility for rollout to Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral in preparation to launch the Orbital ATK Cygnus resupply ship to the International Space Station.

The launch of NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is less than a year away, and the steady pace of work inside the craft’s pristine assembly hall in California is keeping the mission on schedule for liftoff from Cape Canaveral next July, despite growing costs, according to mission managers.