Live coverage: Two satellites lift off aboard Ariane 5

Russian rocket technicians working in the French Guiana jungle transported a three-stage Soyuz booster to its launch pad Monday and erected it upright for liftoff Thursday with four communications satellites for O3b Networks.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:09 p.m. PDT (4:09 p.m. EDT) Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on a mission hauling 51 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit.

Check out imagery from Arianespace and the French space agency showing the launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket Dec. 29 from the Guiana Space Center in South America.