Q&A with Eric Smith, JWST program director

An Ariane 5 rocket and four Galileo navigation satellites launched from French Guiana at 1125 GMT (7:25 a.m. EDT), beginning a four-hour climb into orbit more than 14,000 miles above Earth.

NASA and Northrop Grumman are “suspending integration and testing operations” on the James Webb Space Telescope in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a decision that officials said is likely to delay the mission’s scheduled launch date in March 2021.

These images from United Launch Alliance and NASA photographers recorded the liftoff of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 12 with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.