Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

Bulking up NASA’s constellation of tracking stations in the sky that provides critical links between orbiting spacecraft and ground control, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket successfully deployed a new communications hub in space today.

OneWeb’s next 36 internet satellites stacked on top of a Soyuz rocket lifted at 10:47 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0247 GMT Thursday) from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East.

The privately-funded, Israeli-built Beresheet spacecraft failed Thursday during its historic attempt to land on the moon, seeking to become the first mission to reach the lunar surface without significant government backing. The landing was expected to occur at 1925 GMT (3:25 p.m. EDT).