Live coverage of Delta 4 countdown and launch

Europe’s new Aeolus winds observatory blasted off at 2120 GMT (5:20 p.m. EDT) Wednesday aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket from French Guiana, kicking off a three-year mission to chart the motion of Earth’s atmosphere.

A day-and-a-half after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, a SpaceX Dragon supply ship arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday with more than 5,800 pounds of experiments, provisions and other hardware to support the orbiting lab’s six-person crew. The cargo capsule was captured by the station’s robotic arm at 6:40 a.m. EDT (1040 GMT).

Launching the second pair of Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites for the U.S. military, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral today at 12:52 a.m. EDT (0452 GMT).