Live coverage: Two satellites lift off aboard Ariane 5

Twin satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation system were raised on top of a Russian-made Soyuz rocket late Tuesday and installed for Friday’s launch from French Guiana to expand the growing network of spacecraft nearly 15,000 miles above Earth.

A commercial Cygnus resupply craft that received a new corporate owner while berthed at the International Space Station — thanks to Northrop Grumman’s acquisition of Orbital ATK in June — departed the research complex Sunday. The supply ship was released by Canadarm 2 on the space station at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT).

The European Space Agency’s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, destined to test the concept of gravitational wave detection a million miles from Earth, is nearly ready for launch Dec. 2.