Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

The first node of a space-based European laser communications network will soar into orbit Friday aboard a commercial Eutelsat broadcasting spacecraft, setting the keystone for a satellite system to relay vast volumes of imagery at lightning fast speeds.

Follow the key events of the Soyuz rocket’s ascent into orbit from the Guiana Space Center with two satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation system.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B mini-shuttle, an unpiloted orbiting military laboratory. Liftoff occurred at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), and the Falcon 9’s first stage booster successfully landed at Cape Canaveral a few minutes later.