Live coverage: Two satellites lift off aboard Ariane 5

Lockheed Martin will build two communications satellites for Saudi Arabia’s Arabsat, and Arianespace and SpaceX will launch the commercial relay platforms under contracts valued at $650 million announced Wednesday.

A veteran Russian commander, Italian flight engineer and a rookie NASA astronaut lifted off at 1628 GMT (12:28 p.m. EDT) Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, kicking off a six-hour flight to the International Space Station. The crew docked with the station at 2248 GMT (6:48 p.m. EDT).

An Ariane 5 rocket is counting down to a second launch attempt Saturday to carry two communications satellites into space for DISH Network and Indonesian banking customers, taking the heaviest payload ever launched into geostationary transfer orbit.