Q&A with Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium (members only)

These photos show Monday’s rollout of an Ariane 5 rocket on a 1.7-mile journey to its launch pad at the Guiana Space Center in South America.

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 0427 GMT Thursday (11:27 p.m. EST Wednesday) with 31 satellites from nine countries, with most of the smallsats coming from U.S. customers.

NASA’s newest observatory in space has started its search for planets around other stars, officials said Friday, as astronomers zero in on worlds that are ripe for research by follow-up missions like the James Webb Space Telescope.