Live coverage: Soyuz blasts off on third mission for O3b

An International Launch Services Proton rocket lifted off with a communications satellite for Intelsat and DirecTV at 0710 GMT (3:10 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan after a one-day delay to resolve an issue with an electrical connector on the booster.

Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. Navy test pilot will buckle into custom-molded seats inside a Soyuz spaceship Wednesday, undock from the International Space Station and head for a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 167-day space voyage.

After scrubbing a countdown Saturday to review sensor data, Rocket Lab launched its first mission of 2021 from New Zealand at 2:26 a.m. EST (0726 GMT) Wednesday. The company’s light-class Electron rocket carried a super-secret payload for OHB, a German-headquartered satellite manufacturer.