Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

An International Launch Services Proton rocket lifted off at 2137 GMT (4:37 p.m. EST) on Dec. 27 with the Astra 2G communications satellite, a new broadcasting platform owned by SES to beam television and broadband services to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Es’hail 2 communications satellite into orbit around 32 minutes later.

A new spin-stabilized European weather observatory hitched a ride into space aboard an Ariane 5 rocket Wednesday, accompanying a Brazilian television broadcasting craft on a launch from French Guiana into Earth orbit.