Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

An 11-hour practice countdown was completed Friday at Cape Canaveral’s launch complex 41 for the planned launch of an Atlas 5 rocket and Boeing’s Starliner capsule later this month. The rocket was loaded with super-cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in a full dress rehearsal for launch day.

Two direct-to-home broadcasting satellites have launched from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. Liftoff with DirecTV 15 and Sky Mexico 1 occurred at 2116 GMT (5:16 p.m. EDT) Wednesday.

A veteran Russian cosmonaut, a rookie French flight engineer and a record-setting NASA astronaut making her third trip to the International Space Station are gearing up for launch Thursday aboard an upgraded Soyuz ferry craft, kicking off a two-day flight to the orbital laboratory.