Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off on commercial flight

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 2234 GMT (6:34 p.m. EDT) Wednesday with the country’s ninth navigation satellite, bolstering a regional positioning and timing network after the loss of a navigation craft on a previous PSLV mission last year.

India’s new GSLV Mk.3 launcher delivered to orbit the GSAT 19 communications satellite Monday, and these photos show the rocket lifting off from a launch pad on the eastern Indian coastline powered by two side-mounted solid rocket boosters.

A commercial communications satellite will blast off Thursday from French Guiana on top of a Soyuz rocket, on the way to a station over the Americas to supply bandwidth to airline travelers and broadcasters in the United States, Canada and Mexico.