Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

Arianespace chief executive Stephane Israel announced an anomaly occurred during Thursday’s flight of an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, shortly after the launcher’s second stage engine ignited.

The bronze first stage of United Launch Alliance’s next Atlas 5 rocket arrived at its Cape Canaveral launch pad Friday, where it will be joined by five solid-fueled boosters, a Centaur upper stage and a U.S. Air Force communications satellite in the coming weeks ahead of liftoff set for June 27.

SpaceX called off a Falcon 9 countdown Wednesday due to the threat of lightning from thunderstorms along Florida’s Space Coast, pushing back the departure of a cargo mission for the International Space Station until Thursday.