Live coverage: Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral

Hardware for two air-dropped Pegasus XL launchers previously purchased by Stratolaunch, a space launch company founded by the late billionaire Paul Allen, are now back under Northrop Grumman control and for sale to NASA, the Air Force, or commercial satellite operators, industry officials said.

Inverted cables on the Vega rocket’s upper stage control system apparently caused the launcher to tumble minutes after liftoff Monday night, a failure that resulted in the loss of a Spanish Earth observation satellite and a French research probe, Arianespace officials said Tuesday.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, equipped with three strap-on solid-propellant boosters for added performance, was transfered from its assembly building to the pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today for Sunday’s launch of the commercial EchoStar 19 communications satellite.