Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off on commercial flight

An Ariane 5 launcher fired into space from French Guiana, hauling two commercial satellites destined to broadcast television to Latin America for Intelsat, DirecTV and Argentina’s national telecom company.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle carried a new communications satellite into orbit Thursday, replacing a satellite launched in 2011 providing telemedicine, remote education, and other telecom services across the Indian subcontinent. Liftoff occurred at 5:11 a.m. EST (1011 GMT).

Two satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation network lifted off at sunset Friday aboard a Soyuz rocket from a tropical launch pad at the edge of South America’s Amazon rainforest. Look back at the picturesque liftoff with a video replay and launch photos.