Live coverage: European mini-shuttle back on Earth

A Brazilian television broadcasting satellite and Europe’s next weather observatory packaged atop an Ariane 5 rocket lifted off at 2142 GMT (5:42 p.m. EDT) Wednesday from Kourou, French Guiana.

Flying on its 40th mission, a Japanese H-2A rocket lifted off at 0408 GMT (12:08 a.m. EDT) Monday from the Tanegashima Space Center carrying Japan’s GOSAT 2 satellite to measure greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere and the KhalifaSat Earth observation satellite for the United Arab Emirates.

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 3:40 a.m. local (6:40 a.m. EST; 1140 GMT) today to place a secret payload into space for the National Reconnaissance Office. Follow the mission in our live journal.