Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

A Boeing-built satellite on the way to join Inmarsat’s globe-spanning network geared to beam Internet and data transmission capacity to airline passengers, maritime crews and military personnel flew into orbit Monday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard an expendable Falcon 9 rocket.

Construction of a new launch pad for Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket, which will be put together horizontally instead of vertically, is due to begin next week at an abandoned quarry site in French Guiana.

Launching for the 20th time from the jungle of South America, a Russian-built Soyuz booster rocketed into orbit Wednesday with a new eye in the sky for the French military, the first in a series of upgrades planned for the country’s defense satellites over the next five years.