Atlas V, Falcon 9 rockets on the move at Cape

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolled to its Launch Complex 41 pad this morning for an 11:23 p.m. Friday liftoff with a Global Positioning System satellite.

The 19-story rocket began rolling from its processing tower, called the Vertical Integration Facility, or VIF, around 8 a.m. and completed the move in just under an hour.

The latest forecast has improved to an 80 percent chance of favorable weather during the mission's 18-minute window at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Meanwhile, at neighboring Launch Complex 40 to the south, a SpaceX Falcon 9 will roll from a hangar to its pad today for a practice countdown, fueling and brief engine test-firing culminating at 8 p.m. today.

That's all preparation for SpaceX's launch next week of the AsiaSat 8 commercial communications satellite, which is now planned early Tuesday, a day later than previously scheduled.

The change gives the Atlas V two launch attempts Friday and Saturday, if necessary, before turning the Eastern Range over to SpaceX.

The Falcon 9 launch is targeted for 1:25 a.m. Tuesday, the opening of a two-hour window. It's the first of two launches SpaceX plans this month for Hong Kong-based AsiaSat.