Photos: Delta 4 lights up the sky for night owl launch

An Ariane 5 rocket launch Tuesday added four more navigation satellites to Europe’s Galileo network with an on-target deployment following liftoff from a jungle spaceport on the northeastern coast of South America.

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday at Cape Canaveral, two days before a scheduled launch Monday with 60 Starlink broadband relay stations that will make SpaceX the owner of the world’s largest fleet of commercial satellites.

The successful maiden flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in February was enough for the U.S. Air Force to certify the huge booster to carry the military’s most precious cargo into orbit, beginning with the mid-2020 launch of a classified payload under a $130 million contract awarded last week.