Q&A with Michel Denis, ExoMars flight director

A Proton rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2040 GMT (4:40 p.m. EDT) Friday with Turkey’s Turksat 4B communications satellite.

Opher Doron leads the space division at Israel Aerospace Industries, a satellite and aviation contractor that led the industrial team behind the privately-funded Beresheet lander heading to the moon.

Mike Laidley leads development of Orbital ATK’s Next Generation Launch system, a rocket the commercial space company hopes will provide a foothold in the lucrative market to launch U.S. military satellites, a business currently dominated by SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.