Video: Rosetta scientist Matt Taylor on the end of mission

An Ariane 5 rocket and four Galileo navigation satellites launched from French Guiana at 1125 GMT (7:25 a.m. EDT), beginning a four-hour climb into orbit more than 14,000 miles above Earth.

The launch of South Korea’s first moon orbiter has been delayed from December 2020 until July 2022 after the mission encountered technical issues during development, officials recently announced.

Wrapping up a busy two days on the lunar surface, a Chinese spacecraft carrying moon soil took off from a makeshift launch pad and fired back into orbit Thursday on the first leg of its journey back to Earth.