Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

Technicians transferred an Ariane 5 rocket loaded with two DirecTV broadcasting satellites to a launch pad in French Guiana on Tuesday, one day before the European launcher is set for liftoff.

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:26 p.m. EDT Friday (0026 GMT Saturday) with the U.S. Air Force’s tenth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, extending the reach of the military’s highest-capacity satellite communications network.

A pair of television broadcast satellites for AT&T and Eutelsat rocketed into orbit Thursday evening, riding a European Ariane 5 launcher into space in a spectacular sunset launch from the Guiana Space Center on the northeastern coast South America.