Q&A with Josef Aschbacher, director of ESA’s Earth observation programs (members only)

A Vega rocket has blasted off with Europe’s LISA Pathfinder tech demo mission, a probe heading to a station a million miles from Earth to test systems for a future gravitational wave observatory. Liftoff from French Guiana occurred at 0404 GMT Thursday (11:04 p.m. EST Wednesday).

SpaceX has ordered additional inspections on a Falcon 9 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California,  a decision that is expected to keep the launcher grounded for several days until after the Thanksgiving holiday, officials said Saturday.

A new European weather satellite is ready for launch Tuesday night aboard a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana, and these photos illustrate the final weeks of the spacecraft’s launch campaign.