Live coverage: Soyuz blasts off on third mission for O3b

Europe’s new Aeolus winds observatory blasted off at 2120 GMT (5:20 p.m. EDT) Wednesday aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket from French Guiana, kicking off a three-year mission to chart the motion of Earth’s atmosphere.

The 13th and 14th operational members of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellite network are set for liftoff Tuesday aboard a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana. Track the progress of the flight with this timeline of key events.

Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut flying to the International Space Station for a fourth time lifted off Friday at 2126 GMT (5:26 p.m. EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio reached the orbiting research complex less than six hours later at 0309 GMT (11:09 p.m. EDT).