Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

China’s heaviest rocket has rolled to its launch pad for liftoff Thursday with the country’s first Mars landing mission, an ambitious attempt to place an orbiter around the Red Planet and a robotic rover on the Martian surface in early 2021.

The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander were recently presented to the media as they prepare for a tandem launch to the red planet in March.

Two telecommunications satellite for Latin America are counting down to liftoff aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.