Live coverage: Proton fires into space with Eutelsat 9B

Rocket Lab’s second launch in a little more than a week blasted off from New Zealand at 5:14 a.m. EDT (0914 UTC) Friday with two commercial Earth observation satellites for BlackSky. The Electron rocket’s first stage booster successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean for recovery.

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket for the second time Saturday after replacing a valve following an earlier static fire test Wednesday. The move has postponed the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch with the Amos 17 commercial communications satellite to no earlier than Tuesday.

Four European navigation satellites fastened on top of an Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 1836:07 GMT (1:36:07 p.m. EST) Tuesday to propel the Galileo navigation network closer to global service. The Ariane 5’s upper stage delivered the spacecraft to a circular orbit more than 14,000 miles above Earth around four hours after launch.