Live coverage: Delta 2 launches

The launch of a NASA spacecraft designed to smash into an asteroid to try out a technique that could protect Earth from threatening space rocks has slipped from July until November, at the earliest, after development delays partially caused by coronavirus-related work slowdowns.

An Ariane 5 rocket has blasted off from a tropical launch pad in French Guiana on nearly 3 million pounds of thrust, hoisting two U.S.-built communications satellites to orbit for commercial owners in Brazil and Japan.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket leaves Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on the NROL-42 satellite-deployment mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.