Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

A Vega rocket faltered minutes after liftoff from French Guiana at 9:53 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0153 GMT) and failed to reach orbit with a European-built reconnaissance satellite for the United Arab Emirates. The payload and launcher fell into the Atlantic Ocean, marking the first failure for the solid-fueled Vega launch vehicle.

Orbital ATK’s Minotaur-C rocket, formerly known as the Taurus, has launched for the first time in six years from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The solid-fueled launcher lifted off with 10 commercial Earth-imaging satellites at 2:37 p.m. PDT (5:37 p.m. EDT; 2137 GMT) Monday.

Ready to deliver 1.5 million pounds of thrust Thursday morning, an Atlas 5 rocket was rolled from its assembly building to the launch pad today for its national security satellite-deployment flight.