Live coverage: Soyuz soars into space on its fourth launch attempt

Europe is in the midst of launching the most thorough space-based environmental network ever deployed, with satellites to help officials respond to natural disasters, measure crop yield, monitor the health of oceans and ice caps, and track ozone in the atmosphere. Guido Levrini from ESA spoke to Spaceflight Now about the program on the eve of Sentinel 1B’s launch.

A work stoppage at the Ariane 5 rocket’s launch base in South America prevented rollout of the booster to the launch pad Monday, pushing back the liftoff of two communications satellites for Brazil and South Korea until at least Wednesday.

European technicians working at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan have bolted an Italian-built Mars lander to its mothership ahead of a March 14 launch toward the red planet.