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

A rocket-transporting railroad car ferried a Proton rocket to its launch pad Friday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final checkouts and testing before the vehicle’s scheduled June 21 liftoff with the Russian-German Spektr-RG X-ray telescope.

Ground controllers are running Europe’s ExoMars orbiter through a post-launch checkup a week after its successful liftoff aboard a Proton rocket, and a first look at the probe’s systems has revealed no problems, the mission’s flight director said Tuesday.

A Japanese H-2A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 0017:46 GMT Thursday (8:17:46 p.m. EDT Wednesday) with the Michibiki 2 navigation satellite designed to improve positioning and timing services over Japan.