Photos: Launch boosts satellite for U.S. allies

A failure during the second stage burn of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket caused seven small commercial satellites to crash back to Earth Saturday following liftoff from New Zealand.

Two communications payloads — one for Intelsat and another for Europe’s data relay satellite system — lifted off from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at 1930 GMT (3:30 p.m. EDT) Tuesday.

The first official launch weather outlook issued Tuesday by U.S. Air Force meteorologists predicts an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions for the predawn liftoff Saturday of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft on a test flight to the International Space Station.