Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

A European re-entry demonstrator launched aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket at 1340 GMT (8:40 a.m. EST) from French Guiana, kicking off a whirlwind 102-minute around-the-world test flight to validate technologies that could be used on future reusable launchers and spaceships.

A Falcon 9 launcher lifted off from Cape Canaveral Tuesday at 9:13 p.m. EST (0213 GMT Wednesday) with 60 more Starlink broadband satellites.

Days before breaking ground on a new spacecraft assembly line near Cape Canaveral, OneWeb and Intelsat announced a proposed merger Tuesday that would couple a planned fleet of 900 broadband Internet satellites with a high-power communications network in geostationary orbit.