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

Follow the key events of the Soyuz rocket’s ascent into orbit from the Guiana Space Center with the first COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation, or CSG 1, radar observation satellite, the European Space Agency’s CHEOPS exoplanet telescope, and three CubeSats.

A Long March 3B rocket driven by four strap-on boosters blasted off Wednesday from the Xichang space base in southwestern China, delivering a communications payload to orbit a half-hour later to likely begin service for the Chinese military.

An Atlas 5 lifts off at dawn creating a spectacular sky show as it races toward orbit carrying the fifth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF 5) communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force.