Q&A with Curt Blake, president of Spaceflight Industries (members only)

Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket will deliver a Cygnus supply ship into orbit Saturday to begin a two-day pursuit of the International Space Station.

Going with a philosophy that favors incremental testing of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX officials said Friday that eleven mini-satellites for Orbcomm’s data relay business will fly on the company’s first mission since a launch failure in June.

A 180-foot-tall Ariane 5 rocket climbed into space from French Guiana on Thursday evening, but the mission ran into problems a few minutes later.