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

A test-firing of a twice-flown Falcon 9 booster Friday at Cape Canaveral paved the way for SpaceX’s next launch, scheduled for Monday night with a heavyweight Boeing-built communications satellite to beam broadband signals to Japan and the Pacific islands.

Joe Anderson, vice president of business development and operations at Space Logistics LLC, recently discussed the company’s first Mission Extension Vehicle in an interview with Spaceflight Now. The first Mission Extension Vehicle is launching on the first commercial satellite servicing mission to dock with an Intelsat communications craft in geostationary orbit.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is scheduled to fire into orbit late Tuesday, U.S. time, with 104 satellites on-board, setting a record for the largest flock of spacecraft ever launched on a single rocket.