Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander

United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket completed a critical test-firing of its Blue Origin-built BE-4 main engines Wednesday night, clearing one of two remaining technical hurdles before the launcher is cleared for its inaugural flight later this year.

Japan’s Astro-H mission, an X-ray astronomy observatory designed to shed light on black holes and the unseen structure of the universe, lifted off aboard an H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center at 0845 GMT (3:45 a.m. EST) Wednesday.

A new variant of India’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle with two strap-on solid rocket boosters and an upper stage converted into an experiment-carrying platform debuted Thursday with a launch into polar orbit.