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

A Blagovest communications spacecraft lifted off Monday aboard a Proton rocket to complete a network of four relay satellites in geostationary orbit for the Russian military. The Proton rocket’s Breeze M upper stage successfully delivered the Blagovest spacecraft to its intended orbit nine hours later.

United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket completed a critical test-firing of its Blue Origin-built BE-4 main engines Wednesday night, clearing one of two remaining technical hurdles before the launcher is cleared for its inaugural flight later this year.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to loft the fifth batch of Iridium Next mobile communications satellites stands vertical on Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.