Live coverage: Two satellites lift off aboard Ariane 5

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:49:51 a.m. local time (12:49:51 p.m. EST; 1749:51 today to deploy a covert U.S. national security payload. Follow the ascent in our live journal.

The first of up to four Vega rocket launches planned this year lifted off Thursday night from French Guiana carrying the Italian PRISMA hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellite.
The solid-fueled launcher blasted off from the Guiana Space Center at 0150:35 GMT (9:50:35 p.m. EDT).

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.