Live coverage: Two satellites blast off on Ariane 5

Rocket Lab’s second mission of 2021 lifted off at 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT) Monday from New Zealand carrying six small satellites for customers in Australia and the United States, along with a test platform for a NASA small satellite mission to the moon launching later this year.

The launch for the second Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has slipped until Wednesday at the earliest. The powerful rocket is due to carry the Arabsat 6A communications satellite into orbit.

Launch managers in French Guiana on Monday approved plans to loft two U.S.-built communications for Intelsat aboard an Ariane 5 rocket Wednesday.