Live coverage: International Space Station crew lands in Kazakhstan

Launching for the 20th time from the jungle of South America, a Russian-built Soyuz booster rocketed into orbit Wednesday with a new eye in the sky for the French military, the first in a series of upgrades planned for the country’s defense satellites over the next five years.

A commercial module mounted outside the International Space Station last year will remain attached to the orbiting research complex for at least three more years, carrying out additional tests for future space habitats and serving as a storage closet for the lab’s crew.

Arianespace launched an Ariane 5 rocket on its sixth and final flight of the year at 2037 GMT (3:37 p.m. EST) Tuesday, blasting off from Kourou, French Guiana, with India’s heaviest-ever satellite and a South Korean weather satellite equipped with a U.S.-made imaging camera.