Live coverage: SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites

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.

On its second launch attempt after a propulsion problem prevented its light-class air-dropped rocket from reaching space last year, Virgin Orbit will try to deliver 10 experimental CubeSats into orbit as soon as Sunday on a mission booked by NASA five years ago for $4.7 million.

A Japanese H-2A rocket launched from Tanegashima Island on Wednesday with the Himawari 9 weather observatory bound for a perch more than 22,000 miles above Earth to improve forecasting in the Asia-Pacific. Liftoff of the 17-story rocket from southern Japan occurred at 0620 GMT (2:20 a.m. EDT) Wednesday.