Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander

India’s space agency launched a modified suborbital sounding rocket Sunday and ignited two air-breathing scramjet engines at Mach 6 for a brief five-second experiment that could pave the way for a future reusable space transport system.

An Ariane 5 rocket launched Tuesday with the Arabsat 6B and GSAT 15 communications satellites to broadcast television across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia and link India with telecom and navigation services. Liftoff from Kourou, French Guiana, occurred at 2134 GMT (4:34 p.m. EST).

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 0427 GMT Thursday (11:27 p.m. EST Wednesday) with 31 satellites from nine countries, with most of the smallsats coming from U.S. customers.