Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

The first 34 satellites manufactured on a new commercial spacecraft assembly line just outside the gates of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are scheduled for liftoff on a Soyuz rocket Thursday halfway around the world in Kazakhstan, kicking off a sequence of up to 20 launches from three countries to deploy nearly 650 satellites for OneWeb’s global Internet network.

The European Space Agency (ESA) will soon focus on the Vega-C rocket as its small launch vehicle. Liftoff happened Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 10:50 p.m. GFT (9:50 p.m. EDT, 0150 UTC).

Eutelsat is the first commercial company to commit to launching on Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket, under a five-launch agreement announced Monday in conjunction with fresh contracts for Arianespace to haul a French spy satellite and a pair of Indian communications satellites into orbit.