Live coverage: H-2A rocket lifts off from Japan with navigation satellite

Arianespace has split its third order of Vega rockets from Italy’s Avio between old and new versions of the solid-fueled booster, as officials prepare to build a final batch of around 18 Ariane 5 rockets before switching to the next-generation Ariane 6 in the early 2020s.

SpaceX completed another another launch to add to the company’s Starlink broadband network Thursday. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 GMT) Thursday from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The launch of the next Landsat land imaging mission — a joint project between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey — has been delayed until around September 2021 after the effects of the coronavirus pandemic slowed work on the spacecraft in Arizona, NASA officials said.