Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander

NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite was scheduled to launch Wednesday aboard an air-dropped Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket over the Atlantic Ocean, but managers aborted the mission after encountering a technical concern with the rocket following departure from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launcher’s L-1011 carrier jet returned to Florida.

The privately-funded Israeli Bersesheet lander is on course to enter orbit around the moon April 4 after another boost from its main engine Tuesday.

A powerful new Indian launcher and a precursor to a future piloted space capsule flew to the edge of space on a 20-minute test mission Thursday. See photos of the rocket’s liftoff and the landing craft after splashdown in the Bay of Bengal.