Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

An Indian Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off under a veil of secrecy Friday with a nearly 2.5-ton spacecraft designed to relay video broadcasts and data between India and its South Asian neighbors.

A communications satellite owned by the Qatari government will launch from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late 2016, according to Qatar’s state-owned satellite company.

A huge U.S.-built, Canadian-owned communications satellite weighing 15,600 pounds, the heaviest spacecraft of its kind ever launched, is mounted to a Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff early Sunday from Cape Canaveral on a heavy-lifting mission that previously would have required SpaceX to throw away the launcher’s first stage booster.