Live coverage: 400th Proton rocket takes off with Russian satellite

A Soviet-era missile originally built to deliver nuclear warheads to the United States in wartime fired into space for a much different purpose Tuesday, carrying a European environmental satellite into orbit to help track the effects of climate change.

A pair of Air Force surveillance satellites headed to geosynchronous orbit today to reconnoiter the high ground, departing Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket at 12:52 a.m. EDT (0452 GMT). It is the 375th Delta rocket flight since 1960.

An EchoStar communications satellite designed to link Europeans with voice and broadband data services rode into orbit on top of a Russian Proton rocket Thursday, deploying into an on-target orbit after nine hours of maneuvers by the launcher’s Breeze M upper stage.