Live coverage: Vega rocket deploys second Sentinel satellite

Technicians working in the jungle of French Guiana have installed four new European Galileo navigation satellites on top of their Ariane 5 launcher, and filled the rocket’s upper stage with storable liquid propellants for liftoff Tuesday.

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three space station crew members hurtled back to Earth Thursday, completing a fiery plunge back through the atmosphere before settling to a frigid touchdown on the snowy steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 139-day mission.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from California at 10:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. EST; 1830 GMT) today to deliver the sharp-eyed WorldView 4 satellite into space to collect best-in-the-industry, 31-centimeter-resolution commercial imagery for retail. Follow the mission in our live journal.