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

A European re-entry demonstrator launched aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket at 1340 GMT (8:40 a.m. EST) from French Guiana, kicking off a whirlwind 102-minute around-the-world test flight to validate technologies that could be used on future reusable launchers and spaceships.

An upgraded Soyuz spacecraft, featuring improved navigation, communications and rendezvous systems, blasted into orbit from Kazakhstan Wednesday and set off on a two-day maiden flight to deliver three fresh crew members to the International Space Station.

A logistics-delivery vessel for the International Space Station, launched and operated privately by commercial companies on behalf of NASA, is scheduled to arrive at the lab complex Saturday at 6:05 a.m. EDT (1005 GMT).