Live coverage: Orion lands in Pacific

Seven Japanese and Vietnamese smallsats are set to ride Japan’s solid-fueled Epsilon launcher into orbit at 0050 GMT Friday (7:50 p.m. EST Thursday) on a mission that engineers say will demonstrate the light-class rocket’s ability to accommodate multiple payloads on a single flight.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off Thursday night at 10:44 p.m. EDT (0244 GMT) with NASA’s four formation-flying MMS satellites.

The 330-foot tall mobile service tower has been retracted from the Delta 4-Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral’s pad 37B for tomorrow morning’s launch that will place the Orion spacecraft on its intended trajectory.