Live coverage: Ariane 5 rocket soars with Sky Muster, Arsat 2

SpaceX’s fired the engines of its Falcon Heavy rocket at launch pad 39A at 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT) on Wednesday. The crucial pre-launch engine test has been repeatedly delayed since the rocket returned to the launch pad earlier this month.

SpaceX’s launch director halted a countdown Tuesday to replace a sensor on the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket set to blast off with the GovSat 1 communications craft, the product of a joint venture between the commercial satellite operator SES and the government of Luxembourg.

Rocket Lab’s second launch in a little more than a week blasted off from New Zealand at 5:14 a.m. EDT (0914 UTC) Friday with two commercial Earth observation satellites for BlackSky. The Electron rocket’s first stage booster successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean for recovery.