Q&A with Marc Eisenberg, Orbcomm’s chief executive

Five satellites rode a Long March 2D rocket into orbit Monday from the Jiuquan launch base in northwestern China, including a pathfinder for a planned constellation of low-altitude relay satellites and a mysterious spacecraft ambiguously described by Chinese state media.

Running more than six weeks late after social unrest in French Guiana forced the closure of Europe’s launch base there, a commercial Ariane 5 rocket took off Thursday just after sunset with a pair of communications satellites manufactured in France for owners in Brazil and South Korea.

Sixty more satellites launched Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center to join SpaceX’s Starlink fleet, adding coverage to the broadband network as it is already “well into the first phase of testing.”