Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches BlackSky satellites from New Zealand

Continuing a high-tempo launch cadence, SpaceX delivered another batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites to orbit early Thursday after a seemingly flawless liftoff from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

A European re-entry demonstrator launched aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket at 1340 GMT (8:40 a.m. EST) from French Guiana, kicking off a whirlwind 102-minute around-the-world test flight to validate technologies that could be used on future reusable launchers and spaceships.

A prototype for a future winged Indian spaceship took off early Monday on a suborbital flight 40 miles over the Bay of Bengal and steered itself to an on-target splashdown, testing a heat shield and guidance, navigation and control algorithms.