Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

The Falcon 9 rocket’s eighth flight of 2016 took off from Cape Canaveral early Sunday with the Japanese JCSAT 16 communications satellite, setting a new mark for the most launches made by SpaceX in a single year.

The mission represents the fifth pair of Boeing-built O3b mPOWER satellites to launch into medium Earth orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday, July 22, at 5:12 p.m. EDT (2112 UTC).

The European Space Agency (ESA) will soon focus on the Vega-C rocket as its small launch vehicle. Liftoff happened Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 10:50 p.m. GFT (9:50 p.m. EDT, 0150 UTC).