Q&A with Josef Aschbacher, director of ESA’s Earth observation programs (members only)

A week after scrubbing a launch attempt to evaluate an issue with an oxygen sensor, Rocket Lab launched a mission Wednesday to deliver 10 small commercial Earth observation satellites to orbit. Liftoff of the Electron booster from Rocket Lab’s spaceport in New Zealand occurred at 5:21 p.m. EDT (2121 GMT).

India’s space agency has released stunning video captured by cameras mounted on-board a rocket that launched this week with 104 satellites. Watch the spectacular replay of the launcher’s upper stage deploying a record number of payloads 300 miles above Earth.

One job deemed essential by the European Space Agency coronavirus pandemic involves shepherding the BepiColombo spacecraft through a high-speed flyby of planet Earth next month, an immovable event on the $1.8 billion mission’s seven-year journey to Mercury.