Live coverage: Two satellites lift off aboard Ariane 5

Launch campaigns at the European-run spaceport in French Guiana — a home base for Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega rockets — have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Arianespace said Monday.

The term “direct flight” will go to new heights Friday with a four-hour flight by a Soyuz rocket and its Fregat upper stage to deliver five satellites to three distinct orbital destinations hundreds of miles above Earth.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 12:13 p.m. EDT (1613 GMT) Saturday to deploy a new Global Positioning System satellite.