Video: Falcon 9 fires up engines on pad 39A (members only)

The next flight of Europe’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket, set for July 28 from French Guiana, will carry a record payload of three multi-ton satellites toward geostationary orbit, including a pair of U.S.-built commercial communications payloads and Northrop Grumman’s second robotic satellite servicing spacecraft.

A Soyuz rocket launched Friday with four commercial satellites to expand broadband Internet coverage in remote parts of the world, climbing into orbit from the Guiana Space Center positioned on the northeastern shore of South America.

The Hispasat 30W-6 satellite, set to begin a 15-year telecommunications mission, deployed from the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket around 33 minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral Tuesday.