Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Orbital ATK Minotaur 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with the ORS-5 space surveillance satellite. Orbital ATK’s live video coverage begins at approximately 10:55 p.m. EDT (0255 GMT). Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. Watch on a mobile device.
Falcon 9
SpaceX launches Qatar’s Es’hail 2 communications satellite
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket darted into a partly cloudy sky over Florida’s Space Coast with a roar Thursday afternoon, carrying the Japanese-built Es’hail 2 communications satellite into space to beam commercial video and data services across the Middle East and expand connectivity for Qatar’s military.
Mission Reports
Live coverage: NASA’s ICON satellite successfully launched
After a 24-hour delay due to poor weather, an air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket fired into orbit at 9:59 p.m. EDT Thursday (0159 GMT Friday) after release from a carrier jet at an altitude of 39,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral. The Pegasus rocket carried NASA’s ICON satellite into orbit to collect measurements of the ionosphere.
Mission Reports
Live coverage: NASA conducts Orion abort test over Cape Canaveral
NASA and industry teams at Cape Canaveral launched an Orion capsule on a three-minute atmospheric test flight Tuesday to prove the spaceship’s ability to escape from an exploding rocket during launch, demonstrating a key safety feature before astronauts ride the vehicle into deep space. Liftoff occurred at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).