Live coverage: Kennedy Space Center to reopen Friday

Rocket Lab’s first operational launch took off from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand at 10:50 p.m. EST Saturday (0350 GMT Sunday). The Electron rocket is carrying six CubeSats and a tech demo payload into orbit for customers in the United States, Australia, and Germany.

A record number of would-be space travelers have applied to join NASA’s corps of astronauts to fly aboard the International Space Station, the Orion crew capsule, or commercial spaceships built by Boeing and SpaceX, the space agency announced Friday.

Indian officials postponed the launch Sunday of the Chandrayaan 2 moon mission from a spaceport on the country’s southeastern coast with the Bay of Bengal. The robotic Chandrayaan 2 mission will lift off aboard the GSLV Mk.3, India’s most powerful rocket, but officials have not announced a new target launch date.