Intelsat

A hefty European-built satellite destined to broadcast high-definition television to the Middle East and a U.S.-made relay station programmed to serve Latin America and North Atlantic air routes soared into space Thursday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.

Ground crews towed a towering Ariane 5 rocket to its launch pad in French Guiana on Wednesday for final flight preparations before Thursday’s launch with spacecraft for two of the world’s top commercial satellite operators.