Live coverage: Ariane 5 rocket soars with Sky Muster, Arsat 2

A dozen SuperDove nanosatellites with improved vision are set to join Planet’s Earth-observing fleet Tuesday night (U.S. time) after riding into orbit aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle alongside an Indian mapping payload.

Liftoff of an Ariane 5 rocket from a tropical launch pad in South America was halted moments after its main engine ignited Tuesday in a rare last-second abort for the heavy-lift launcher.

One day after a Soyuz crew transport rolled out to a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a similar Russian booster made a comparable journey Monday halfway around the world in tropical French Guiana for liftoff Thursday with two European Galileo navigation satellites.