Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

SpaceX’s first launch of 2018 blasted off at 8 p.m. EST Sunday (0100 GMT Monday). A Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral with a mysterious U.S. government payload known as Zuma, and the first stage returned to landing on Florida’s Space Coast around eight minutes later.

A pair of Earth observation satellites along with ten auxiliary payloads will launch aboard Arianespace’s penultimate Vega rocket into sun-synchronous orbit on Friday. Vega lifted off at 9:36 p.m. EDT (0138 UTC) on Sunday after a two-day delay.

A European-built Ariane 5 rocket rolled out to a launch pad in the South American jungle Wednesday with a pair of commercial television broadcast satellites for AT&T and Eutelsat, setting the stage for liftoff Thursday evening.