Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

Arianespace announced four launch orders this week to deploy spacecraft in orbit for Google, the United Arab Emirates and Europe’s new laser data relay satellite network.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Tuesday at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) with Hispasat 30W-6, a communications satellite to relay video and broadband signals between the Americas, Europe and North Africa.

A new European weather satellite is ready for launch Tuesday night aboard a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana, and these photos illustrate the final weeks of the spacecraft’s launch campaign.