Live coverage: Ariane 5 lifts off from French Guiana

Heading into the home stretch of a banner year, SpaceX launched its third Falcon 9 rocket flight of the month Monday with a Korean-owned commercial communications satellite built to connect customers across a swath from the Middle East to East Asia.

After an unusual stretch of excessive high-altitude winds prevented launch from French Guiana of 53 small satellites on a Vega rocket in June — and no sign of a letup in winds in the coming days — Arianespace said Wednesday that the mission will be delayed to Aug. 17 to allow time for teams to recharge launcher and payload batteries.

Northrop Grumman’s launch team aborted an Antares rocket launch from Virginia’s Eastern Shore minutes before liftoff Sunday evening. The rocket is set to loft a Cygnus cargo freighter toward the International Space Station with nearly four tons of supplies and experiments.