Live coverage: Minotaur 4 rocket makes first launch from Cape Canaveral

Two Chinese Beidou navigation satellites successfully launched Monday on top of a Long March 3B rocket, completing the core of China’s independent positioning and timing network ahead of the start of global service next year.

SpaceX launched Argentina’s SAOCOM 1B radar observation satellite from Cape Canaveral at 7:18 p.m. EDT (2318 GMT) Sunday. A Falcon 9 rocket headed toward the south on a trajectory hugging the Florida East Coast on the first flight into polar orbit from Cape Canaveral since 1969, and the first stage booster returned to the spaceport for an onshore landing minutes after liftoff.

The third in a new series of Chinese high-resolution mapping satellites lifted off Saturday aboard a Long March 2D rocket, joining two other craft launched into similar orbits in December.