Live coverage: Japan’s H-2A rocket blasts off on first commercial flight

Cape Canaveral was the departure point for more space launches in 2015 than in any year since 2003, with 17 takeoffs by Atlas, Falcon and Delta rockets hoisting U.S. military satellites, commercial payloads and cargo for the International Space Station.

Europe’s ExoMars rover will not be ready for launch in 2018, officials said Monday, forcing a two-year delay for the ambitious mission to drill into the Martian surface and search for the remnants of past life.

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket ignited its nine Merlin engines at Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A Thursday in a customary pre-flight test ahead of the company’s next mission, slated for Monday with a commercial South Korean-owned communications satellite.