Live coverage: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches

A 12,000-pound Mexican mobile communications satellite was hoisted atop its Atlas 5 rocket today as crews finished assembling the vehicle for United Launch Alliance’s 100th liftoff next week.

A 151-foot-tall Soyuz launcher climbed into space from French Guiana on Thursday with the Boeing-built SES 15 communications satellite bound for an operating position over the Americas in geostationary orbit.

SpaceX disclosed neither the payload nor the customer for this mission but hours after the launch Israel Aerospace Industries said it the Falcon 9 carried its Dror 1 communications satellite. Liftoff occurred at 1:04 a.m. EDT (0504 UTC).