Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the SES 14 and Al Yah 3 communications satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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SpaceX to experiment with less-reflective satellite coatings on next Starlink launch
SpaceX’s next launch of satellites for the company’s Starlink broadband network — planned in the final days of 2019 — will carry one spacecraft with an experimental coating designed to make it less reflective in orbit, a first step in assuaging concerns from scientists who say the deployment of thousands more Starlink stations would impede some astronomical observations.
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NASA lays out $28 billion plan to return astronauts to the moon in 2024
NASA officials released a nearly five-year, $28 billion plan Monday to return astronauts to the surface of the moon before the end of 2024, but the agency’s administrator said the “aggressive” timeline set by the Trump administration last year hinges on Congress approving $3.2 billion in the next few months to kick-start development of new human-rated lunar landers.