Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle sits on its launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center on the country’s eastern coastline, awaiting blastoff with the IRNSS 1I navigation satellite.

A robotic lander and rover lifted off Friday (U.S. time) from China’s Xichang space center, kicking off a journey that will culminate in an attempt in early January to touch down on the far side of the moon for the first time.

China’s space agency has released images captured by a small camera ejected from the country’s first Mars-bound spacecraft, showing the probe in deep space as it nears the halfway point of its seven-month journey from Earth to the Red Planet.