Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Japanese H-2A rocket carrying Hayabusa 2, a robotic spacecraft designed to collect samples from an asteroid and return the material to Earth. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Related Articles

Live coverage: Dragon cargo craft returns to Earth
After 24 days at the International Space Station, SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship came back to Earth on Sunday with more than 5,400 pounds of cargo, human and animal research specimens, and other gear tagged for the trip home. Release from the station’s robotic arm occurred at 5:11 a.m. EDT (0911 GMT), and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean was a few minutes before 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT).

Live coverage: SpaceX resupply mission arrives at space station
A day-and-a-half after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, a SpaceX Dragon supply ship arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday with more than 5,800 pounds of experiments, provisions and other hardware to support the orbiting lab’s six-person crew. The cargo capsule was captured by the station’s robotic arm at 6:40 a.m. EDT (1040 GMT).

Live coverage: Debut flight of Astra’s satellite launcher scrubbed
Astra was gearing up for the first orbital test flight of its small satellite launcher, named Rocket 3.0, from Alaska on Monday, but officials scrubbed the launch after detecting a problem with a guidance, navigation and control system in the final minute of the countdown. Poor weather at the launch site also prevented liftoff over the weekend on the first of two missions under the auspices of DARPA’s Launch Challenge.