Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M, a communications router for the space station and dozens of science spacecraft, blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:29 a.m. EDT on Friday atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

Follow the Delta 4 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 launch pad to deploy the Wideband Global SATCOM 9 communications satellite. Liftoff is scheduled for Friday at 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT).

An Ariane 5 rocket delivered a robotic space tug and a pair of commercial communications satellites into orbit Saturday following a fiery blastoff from French Guiana, debuting new upgrades in Arianespace’s first mission since temporarily suspending launch operations earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.