Live coverage: Indian PSLV launches with RISAT 2B radar satellite

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle released 31 satellites into two different orbits Thursday, and on-board cameras captured dazzling views of the smallsats flying away from the rocket’s upper stage high above Earth.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off Thursday night at 10:44 p.m. EDT (0244 GMT) with NASA’s four formation-flying MMS satellites.

Flying on its 40th mission, a Japanese H-2A rocket lifted off at 0408 GMT (12:08 a.m. EDT) Monday from the Tanegashima Space Center carrying Japan’s GOSAT 2 satellite to measure greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere and the KhalifaSat Earth observation satellite for the United Arab Emirates.