Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

A Chinese Long March 3B rocket lifted off Tuesday from the country’s Xichang space base, heading into orbit with a secretive payload believed by Western observers to be a military communications satellite.

An Ariane 5 rocket launched Tuesday with the Arabsat 6B and GSAT 15 communications satellites to broadcast television across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia and link India with telecom and navigation services. Liftoff from Kourou, French Guiana, occurred at 2134 GMT (4:34 p.m. EST).

The U.S. Air Force’s fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency spacecraft launched Wednesday from Cape Canaveral on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, expanding the reach of the military’s most secure, jam-resistant satellite communications network.