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

AsiaSat’s most powerful communications satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral in California to reach developing markets in Myanmar, Indonesia and other parts of the Asia-Pacific, rode a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage Thursday into orbit ranging more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

After several delays earlier this week, SpaceX conducted a hold-down test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Friday evening in a key test before launch next week on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The centerpiece of the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for a three-month test to ensure the observatory’s sensors and gold-coated mirrors work in the frigid temperatures of deep space.