Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

The first Ariane 5 rocket scheduled for launch in 2018 has been topped off with two communications satellites for SES and Yahsat, moving the European booster closer to liftoff Thursday from a tropical launch pad in French Guiana with payloads to serve commercial and scientific missions.

Take a look back on the liftoff of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on its first orbital test flight Dec. 20 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket with these photos showing the capsule streaking into space at dawn.

The first in a planned multi-decade series of European land imaging satellites is fastened on top of a solid-fueled Vega launcher at a French Guiana space base for liftoff Monday, kicking off a mission to track everything from global crop growth to urban sprawl.