Q&A with Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO

The next flight of Europe’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket, set for July 28 from French Guiana, will carry a record payload of three multi-ton satellites toward geostationary orbit, including a pair of U.S.-built commercial communications payloads and Northrop Grumman’s second robotic satellite servicing spacecraft.

An Ariane 5 rocket soared into orbit from French Guiana on Jan. 25 with the commercial SES 14 and Al Yah 3 communications satellite, but the launcher missed its mark and released the telecom craft into an unplanned orbit.

Rocket Lab has scheduled the launch of its second Electron rocket from New Zealand as soon as Dec. 7, U.S. time, on a test flight that will aim to deploy three small CubeSats in orbit.