Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

The launch of a Japanese H-2A rocket with the Emirates Mars Mission, a Mars orbiter developed in partnership between Emirati and U.S. scientists, was delayed Tuesday due to poor weather at the H-2A’s launch site on Tanegashima Island in southern Japan. Officials later announced that liftoff would not occur Thursday, again citing bad weather at the launch site. A new launch attempt is scheduled for Sunday, weather permitting.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday at 9:06 a.m. EST (1406 GMT) from Cape Canaveral with 60 satellites for the company’s Starlink Internet network. Previous attempts to launch the mission were stymied by strong upper level winds and rough seas in the Falcon 9’s downrange recovery area northeast of Cape Canaveral.

A powerful Ariane 5 rocket soared into space with a European weather satellite and Brazilian telecom platform this week, lighting up its remote French Guiana spaceport carved out of the jungle on the northern coast of South America. Check out imagery of the sunset blastoff.