Live coverage: Two satellites lift off aboard Ariane 5

Two communications payloads — one for Intelsat and another for Europe’s data relay satellite system — lifted off from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at 1930 GMT (3:30 p.m. EDT) Tuesday.

Two Intelsat communications craft are in French Guiana getting configured for a dual-launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket Aug. 24, the first time the global satellite operator has put two of its payloads on the same booster.

Astra was gearing up for the first orbital test flight of its small satellite launcher, named Rocket 3.0, from Alaska on Monday, but officials scrubbed the launch after detecting a problem with a guidance, navigation and control system in the final minute of the countdown. Poor weather at the launch site also prevented liftoff over the weekend on the first of two missions under the auspices of DARPA’s Launch Challenge.