Watch a live view of SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral launch pad (members only)

The third Ariane 5 flight of the year is on track for a late afternoon liftoff Thursday from French Guiana with two U.S.-built communications satellites to broadcast television channels to millions of DISH Network subscribers and improve banking services across the islands of Indonesia.

Check out photos of the encapsulation of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich oceanography satellite inside the payload shroud of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket before its launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

A European Ariane 5 rocket took off on its first flight of the year Wednesday with a new-generation communications satellite for Intelsat, lighting up the sky over its French Guiana launch base as it arced over the Atlantic Ocean.