A Russian-made Soyuz rocket was launched from Europe’s space base in French Guiana on Monday at 2102 GMT (6:02 p.m. local; 5:02 p.m. EDT) with the Sentinel 1B environmental satellite.
Image credit: Arianespace
Mission Reports
China launches environmental monitoring satellites
Without any public warning, a Chinese Long March 4B rocket lifted off Sunday with two “environmental monitoring satellites” that the country’s state media said will replace a pair of spacecraft launched in 2008 that collected data to assist in a series of disaster relief efforts over the last decade.
News
Live coverage: Rosetta’s final hours
Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft closed out a historic 4.9-billion-mile journey Friday with a slow-speed crash into the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the tiny world it has studied for the last two years, capturing some of the mission’s best science data to help unravel the inner workings of the comet. Confirmation of the crash landing arrived on Earth at 1119 GMT (7:19 a.m. EDT).
Atlas 5
Atlas 5 launch postponed by wildfire, Range availability until Sept. 26
Sunday’s flight of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was scrubbed due to a wildfire burning south of the pad. The launch delay allows crews to remain in place to battle the blaze. The lack of Range availability this week means the next launch try won’t come until Sept. 26.