Live coverage: Orion lands in Pacific

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:51 p.m. EDT (1751 GMT) today to haul a classified satellite into space for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Follow the mission in our live journal.

Europe’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander arrived at Mars Wednesday, with the orbiter safely captured by Martian gravity after a critical engine firing. The lander’s fate is unknown after mission control lost contact just before touchdown.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at 4:25 p.m. EST (2125 GMT) Wednesday from Cape Canaveral with the GovSat 1 communications satellite, a military-grade craft to relay signals for Luxembourg and allied nations. SpaceX’s launch team scrubbed an attempt Tuesday to replace a transducer on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and wait for improved weather conditions.