Live coverage: Two satellites lift off aboard Ariane 5

Ground crews at the Guiana Space Center in South America have spent the last few months preparing the BepiColombo spacecraft, a tandem mission with European and Japanese science orbiters bound for Mercury, for launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission returned to Earth Saturday after a six-year mission to collect samples from asteroid Ryugu. The mission’s sample return capsule landed in in the Australian outback around shortly before 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) Saturday.

A European Vega rocket lifted off Tuesday from the Guiana Space Center on the northern shoreline of South America with a high-resolution reconnaissance satellite for the Moroccan government. Launch occurred at 8:42:31 p.m. EST Tuesday (0142:31 GMT Wednesday) from Kourou, French Guiana.