Photos: EchoStar 19 launch as seen from press site

A Chinese Long March 3B launcher carried a Beidou satellite into orbit Monday, adding the penultimate satellite to China’s independent navigation fleet before another mission in May completes the constellation to give it a global reach.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket overcame a rare in-flight engine failure soon after launch from Florida’s Space Coast Wednesday to place 60 satellites in orbit for the company’s Starlink Internet network. Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, promised a “thorough investigation” of the engine failure before the next Falcon 9 launch.

Scientists eager for answers to long-standing questions about the geology of Mars will get a lift Saturday with the blastoff from California of an Atlas 5 rocket with NASA’s InSight mission, a robotic landing craft that will take the pulse and temperature of the red planet.