Live coverage: Intelsat’s first “Epic” satellite in orbit after Ariane 5 launch

A Russian Proton rocket hauled a U.S.-built, Spanish-owned communications satellite into orbit Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, kicking off a 15-year mission to relay video signals and broadband connectivity across a swath of Latin America from Mexico to Patagonia.

The launch next year of a commercial communications craft jointly managed by London-based Inmarsat and the Greek satellite operator Hellas-Sat has been switched from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket, officials said Thursday.

A Falcon 9 rocket booster which first flew in May took off for the second time Tuesday from Cape Canaveral carrying the Indonesian Merah Putih communications satellite.