Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

The shift in launch date is to allow more time to build in redundancy to account for the helium leak. The launch is currently scheduled for no earlier than Saturday, May 25, at 3:09 p.m. EDT (1909 UTC).

A solid-fueled Vega rocket has been stacked on a launch pad in French Guiana for liftoff Aug. 1 with two Israeli-built satellites — one developed in partnership with the French space agency for environmental research, and another to gather intelligence for the Italian military.

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.