Photos: News media images of Atlas 5 launch

The first 10 satellites for Iridium’s next-generation mobile voice and data relay network have been fueled, joined with their deployment module and encapsulated inside the clamshell-like nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster for launch as soon as next week from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 8:51 a.m. EST (1351 GMT) Sunday from Cape Canaveral with the first in a new line of upgraded U.S. Air Force GPS navigation satellites. The launch was delayed five days due to technical and weather concerns.

Less than three months after rocketing into space, the commercial WorldView 4 Earth-imagery satellite has finished in-orbit testing and calibration to begin operations for DigitalGlobe.