Live coverage: India’s LVM3 rocket lifts off with 36 more OneWeb satellites

A powerhouse communications satellite with up to five times the capacity of most existing telecom craft reached orbit Wednesday after a nighttime blastoff from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, marking an auspicious start to the deployment of Intelsat’s $2 billion next-generation satellite network.

Near the end of a ground-shaking test firing of Northrop Grumman’s solid-propellant Castor 600 rocket motor — the first stage of a new booster being designed to launch spy satellites and other national security payloads — a major part of the rocket’s big nozzle appeared to break apart, littering the test site with shards of debris.

SpaceX launched 60 more Starlink internet relay platforms into orbit Sunday as the company ramps up network testing in Washington state and touts a streak of nearly 300 satellites launched since June without a spacecraft failure.