Q&A with Keith Gendreau, principal investigator of the first X-ray space communications experiment (members only)

SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned test model of the company’s Dragon crew capsule Wednesday on a whirlwind 107-second flight through the skies over Cape Canaveral.

A powerful commercial communications satellite driven by plasma thrusters rode a reused SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster away from Cape Canaveral early Monday, climbing into orbit to connect companies, homes, airplanes and ships across much of the Eastern Hemisphere.

Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat plans to launch a spacecraft for video broadcasting and broadband connectivity over Latin America aboard a dedicated Ariane 5 rocket in early 2016, several months earlier than planned, on a rare commercial single-payload flight of the workhorse launcher, Eutelsat’s chief executive said Wednesday.