Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

Working with a reduced staff due to coronavirus-related restrictions, European Space Agency flight controllers monitored the BepiColombo spacecraft during a flyby of Earth on Friday, a maneuver that used our planet’s gravity to steer the mission on a course toward Mercury.

While Congress considers whether to provide funding NASA says it needs for a moon landing with astronauts before the end of 2024, several international partners voiced their intentions Monday to participate in the U.S.-led lunar exploration program.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launched at 5:02 p.m. EST (2202 GMT) Thursday from Cape Canaveral with NOAA’s GOES-S weather satellite, the second in a series of upgraded observatories destined to cover the western United States and the Pacific Ocean.