Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Proton rocket and the Inmarsat 5 F3 mobile communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Delta 4
Up to three launches planned this weekend from Cape Canaveral
Delays have set up the possibility of up to three rocket launches this weekend from different pads along Florida’s Space Coast, including two SpaceX missions on Sunday that could set a company record for the shortest span between two Falcon 9 rocket launches. But in the world of ever-changing launch schedules, numerous factors such as weather and technical issues could thwart launch plans this weekend.
Mission Reports
NASA’s moon rocket scores an ‘A+‘ on critical engine test
The core piece of NASA’s first huge Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket designed to carry astronauts back to the moon fired its main engines more than eight minutes Thursday in southern Mississippi, acing a crucial test before the it ships to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for liftoff.
Mission Reports
Military communications satellite launched by Russian Proton rocket
A Russian military communications satellite launched Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, riding a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage into orbit on just the second Proton flight this year, the lowest annual flight rate for Russia’s most powerful operational launcher since the 1960s.