Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Proton rocket with the Eutelsat 9B communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Falcon Heavy
Live coverage: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy lifts off from Kennedy Space Center
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT) to begin a three-and-a-half hour mission to deliver two dozen satellites into three distinct orbits. The Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters returned to Cape Canaveral for successful landings, but the center core stage crashed during a landing attempt on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Atlas 5
British-built solar probe shipping to Florida launch site before Brexit deadline
The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft — assembled in Britain and set for liftoff in February — has completed environmental testing in Germany and is scheduled to ride a cargo plane to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin launch preparations Oct. 31, several weeks earlier than planned to avoid complications stemming from Brexit.