Q&A with Guido Levrini, ESA’s manager of the Copernicus space segment

Follow the key events of the Soyuz rocket’s ascent into orbit from the Guiana Space Center with two satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation system.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Pacific coastline northwest of Los Angeles on Friday night, sending 10 Iridium communications satellites toward orbit on a previously-flown first stage booster.

Europe’s solid-fueled Vega booster vaulted away from a launch pad in the South American jungle late Thursday and deftly delivered five sharp-eyed Earth observation satellites into two different orbits for the Peruvian government and a Google-owned mapping company.