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

Firing off the launch pad with more than a half-million pounds of thrust, a Vega rocket soared into space Monday night from French Guiana with Europe’s Sentinel 2B environmental satellite.

Two U.S.-German satellites launched more than 15 years ago to measure Earth’s changing gravity field will stop collecting data in November, a few months before a pair of replacement craft will launch to resume gravity measurements, NASA officials said.

Russia is delaying the return to Earth of three space station crew members by about a month in the wake of the failure of a Russian Progress supply ship that spun out of control moments after reaching orbit April 28. Launch of three fresh crew members also will be delayed, from May 26 to late July.