Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off on commercial flight

Rocket Lab’s first operational launch took off from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand at 10:50 p.m. EST Saturday (0350 GMT Sunday). The Electron rocket is carrying six CubeSats and a tech demo payload into orbit for customers in the United States, Australia, and Germany.

India’s all-new GSLV Mk. 3 launcher blasted off for the first time at 0400 GMT Thursday (11 p.m. EST Wednesday) on a suborbital test flight to demonstrate a new twin-engine core stage, two powerful solid rocket boosters and a prototype capsule designed for India’s planned human space program.

A logistics-delivery vessel for the International Space Station, launched and operated privately by commercial companies on behalf of NASA, is scheduled to arrive at the lab complex Saturday at 6:05 a.m. EDT (1005 GMT).