Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

SpaceX test-fired its next Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday in preparation for the company’s 17th launch of the year, a mission tentatively set for liftoff Wednesday with a secretive payload named Zuma for the U.S. government.

If you plan to watch athletes compete on the track or in the water during this year’s Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, there’s a good chance the television signals will be relayed from Brazil using a new Eutelsat communications satellite launched Wednesday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.

Blasting into space atop an Ariane 5 launcher, two communications satellites started missions Sunday to beam broadband services to ships, airplanes and offshore oil rigs for a commercial Norwegian operator and relay signals for the Italian and French armed forces.