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In the first official weather outlook the planned launch this week of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, meteorologists predict an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions to allow liftoff of an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Thursday.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Pacific coastline northwest of Los Angeles on Friday night, sending 10 Iridium communications satellites toward orbit on a previously-flown first stage booster.

The mission features orbital transfer vehicles that are carrying 30 of the payloads with 14 being deployed after the initial mission launch. Liftoff from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 10:49 a.m. PST (1:49 p.m. EST, 1849 UTC).