Live coverage: Two satellites blast off on Ariane 5

Construction of a new launch pad for Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket, which will be put together horizontally instead of vertically, is due to begin next week at an abandoned quarry site in French Guiana.

A Japanese-owned communications satellite built in Colorado and a South Korean environmental monitoring observatory shared an Ariane 5 rocket ride into orbit Tuesday from the South American jungle.

On its first launch of the year, a Russian-made Proton rocket lifted off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a French-built, Russian-owned communications satellite.