Video: Press site view of Falcon 9’s launch with the Es’hail 2 satellite (members only)

A Chinese-built communications satellite owned by Hong Kong-based operator launched Thursday aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang space base in southwest China.

NASA announced Thursday nine companies that will be eligible to compete for up to $2.6 billion in contracts over the next decade to ferry scientific instruments and tech demo payloads to the moon aboard commercial robotic landers, a first step in what agency officials said will foster expanded private investment in deep space exploration and an eventual return of humans to the lunar surface.

NASA has announced that Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and OrbitBeyond won contracts to deliver science instruments and technology demonstration payloads to the moon’s surface in the first of a series of robotic missions preceding a human return to the moon.