Live coverage: Proton rocket blasts off for first time in a year

Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat plans to launch a spacecraft for video broadcasting and broadband connectivity over Latin America aboard a dedicated Ariane 5 rocket in early 2016, several months earlier than planned, on a rare commercial single-payload flight of the workhorse launcher, Eutelsat’s chief executive said Wednesday.

A small spacecraft built for the Russian military lifted off Thursday on top of a modified Soyuz booster, beginning a mission to reportedly test a compact Earth-imaging platform that could be used on future spy satellites.

The first upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, known as the ‘Block 5’, takes flight from launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on 11 May 2018.