Photos: GPS 2F-10 readied for launch

A new-generation weather satellite launched in November promising to deliver better images of hurricanes, storms and clouds than any mission before has returned its first tantalizing pictures from geostationary orbit.

A powerhouse communications satellite with up to five times the capacity of most existing telecom craft reached orbit Wednesday after a nighttime blastoff from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, marking an auspicious start to the deployment of Intelsat’s $2 billion next-generation satellite network.

Stormy weather at the Kennedy Space Center forced SpaceX to scrub the liftoff of a Falcon Heavy rocket Thursday night carrying the ViaSat 3 Americas broadband satellite to a near-geostationary orbit.