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

European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher said Thursday the Ariane 6 is expected to launch for the first time between June 15 and July 31, 2024. The determination comes on the heels of what ESA determined to be a successful hot fire test of the rocket’s main engine.

Sixty more SpaceX-owned Starlink internet satellites rocketed through a moonlit winter sky over Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 launcher early Thursday, while another Falcon 9 sat on a different launch pad a few miles away to loft another 60 Starlink payloads Friday.

An Ariane 5 rocket fired into space from a tropical spaceport in French Guiana on Wednesday, successfully delivering two television broadcast satellites into high-altitude orbits for DirecTV and Sky Mexico.