Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

Two months after a first test-firing ended prematurely, NASA plans to ignite the core stage of the first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket again Thursday for an eight-minute burn to confirm it is ready for shipment to the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations.

SpaceX launched 60 more spacecraft Wednesday to join the Starlink fleet beaming broadband signals around the world, while the company’s engineers move closer to debuting a sunshade that could reduce the satellites’ impacts on ground-based astronomy.

Three Russian Gonets communications satellites launched late Wednesday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, riding a Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage into orbit on the second successful Soyuz mission in less than 24 hours.