Live coverage: Ariane 5 successful in middle-of-the-night launch

Three crew members departed the International Space Station on Wednesday and descended back to Earth, touching down in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-14M capsule at 10:08 p.m. EDT (0208 GMT Thursday).

Arianespace chief executive Stéphane Israël discussed his company’s outlook with Spaceflight Now, touching on the light-class Vega rocket’s business prospects, the launch manifest in 2016, Arianespace’s view of innovation in the launch market, and his plans to compete in the next decade.

A previously-undisclosed payload funded by a U.S. military research agency rode into orbit with a Spanish communications satellite on SpaceX’s most recent Falcon 9 rocket launch March 6, officials said Friday.