Live coverage: Ariane 5 rocket launches TV broadcast satellites

United Launch Alliance crews at Cape Canaveral are finishing final preparations for an Atlas 5 rocket launch Saturday evening to dispatch three U.S. military satellites directly to an orbital perch more than 20,000 miles over the equator.

The launch of the seventh Wideband Global SATCOM military communications satellite aboard a Delta 4 rocket booster occurred tonight at 8:07 p.m. EDT (0007 GMT) from Cape Canaveral.

A European Ariane 5 rocket will propel two communications satellites from a standstill to a speed of nearly 21,000 mph in 25 minutes during a launch Friday from French Guiana.