Live coverage: Veteran three-man crew docks with space station

A Russian Proton rocket hauled a U.S.-built, Spanish-owned communications satellite into orbit Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, kicking off a 15-year mission to relay video signals and broadband connectivity across a swath of Latin America from Mexico to Patagonia.

An Indian radar observation satellite designed to collect information on natural disasters, pollution and monitor the military activity of India’s neighbors lifted off at 4:55 a.m. EST (0955 GMT) Wednesday on top of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, the second PSLV mission in two weeks.

Debuting lighter structural components to carry heavier satellites into orbit, a Russian Proton rocket fired into space from Kazakhstan on Thursday and successfully placed a U.S.-built television broadcast craft into orbit for Intelsat and DirecTV.