Live coverage: Ariane 5 rocket deploys satellites for Australia, India

SpaceX is set to launch two prototype probes Wednesday to begin testing spacecraft and antenna technology the company hopes will eventually power a network of thousands of satellites blanketing planet Earth with broadband Internet coverage.

Confident in technical and procedural fixes implemented since a launch in August left two Galileo satellites in the wrong orbit, officials with Europe’s navigation program say Friday’s liftoff of two identical craft on a Soyuz rocket will try to fill the same slots in the fleet as targeted by last year’s failed mission.

Another 60 Starlink internet satellites rumbled into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket early Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the 25th mission to launch spacecraft for SpaceX’s broadband network.