Live coverage: 400th Proton rocket takes off with Russian satellite

The last flight of the single-core variant of United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4 rocket lifted off at 9:06 a.m. EDT (1306 GMT) Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The 207-foot-tall launcher carried a GPS navigation satellite into orbit for the U.S. Air Force.

SpaceX has delayed the launch of the SES 12 communications satellite until shortly after midnight Friday at Cape Canaveral, allowing teams additional time to complete pre-launch vehicle checks and wait for improved weather conditions. The launch, which was previously set for Thursday, is expected around 12:29 a.m. EDT (0429 GMT) Friday.

A three-person crew heading for the International Space Station took off Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and arrived in orbit around nine minutes later, beginning a two-day pursuit of the research outpost.