Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

Flying its most complex mission to date, a Japanese H-2A rocket fired off a launch pad and roared into space from southern Japan on Tuesday, heading for an on-target deployment of the Telstar 12 Vantage communications satellite four-and-a-half hours later.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket got within a second of liftoff Sunday before a low-thrust alarm triggered an automatic abort. Watch a view of the dramatic last-second countdown cutoff at engine ignition from our camera at the launch pad.

A powerful H-2A launcher, boosted by four strap-on rocket motors and an upgraded second stage, lifted off from Japan on Tuesday with a multipurpose communications satellite for Ottawa-based Telesat. Check out photos of the H-2A rocket soaring into clear skies.