Live coverage: Ariane 5 rocket soars with Sky Muster, Arsat 2

A Chinese rocket carried the first communications satellite for Belarus into orbit Friday, recording a success in the first space launch this year.

SpaceX and OneWeb — space industry rivals and owners of two of the largest fleets of commercial satellites — are set to add more spacecraft to their internet networks Wednesday with launches from Cape Canaveral and Russia.

Leading all other nations, U.S. launch providers flew 44 missions in 2020 that aimed to place payloads in Earth orbit or deep space, with 40 successes. China followed with 35 successful orbital missions in 39 launch attempts.