Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

Two communications payloads — one for Intelsat and another for Europe’s data relay satellite system — lifted off from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at 1930 GMT (3:30 p.m. EDT) Tuesday.

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission returned to Earth Saturday after a six-year mission to collect samples from asteroid Ryugu. The mission’s sample return capsule landed in in the Australian outback around shortly before 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) Saturday.

An Ariane 5 rocket is counting down to a second launch attempt Saturday to carry two communications satellites into space for DISH Network and Indonesian banking customers, taking the heaviest payload ever launched into geostationary transfer orbit.