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.

Wrapping up 109 days attached to the International Space Station, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship departed the orbiting research lab Tuesday to begin an extended four-month mission for additional technology demonstrations and smallsat deployments.

TriSept Corp. has announced plans for a commercial technology demonstration mission set for launch next year on a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle to test a deployable conductive tape, made by Tethers Unlimited, that could help small satellites more quickly fall out of orbit at the end of their missions.