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

Russian managers have delayed the launch of a Russian-U.S.-Japanese crew to the International Space Station two weeks until early July to allow time for additional software testing on an upgraded version of the Soyuz spacecraft.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off Thursday night at 10:44 p.m. EDT (0244 GMT) with NASA’s four formation-flying MMS satellites.

SpaceX is preparing for the next launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, set for blastoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the EchoStar 23 television broadcast satellite destined to cover Brazil. The rocket’s static fire test, a major milestone in any SpaceX launch campaign, was performed Thursday.