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Photos: Ariane 5’s fiery climb to space from French Guiana

January 18, 2020

A European Ariane 5 rocket fired into a gloomy sky Thursday over French Guiana and streaked into space from the tropical launch base with 2.9 million pounds of thrust from two solid rocket boosters and a hydrogen-fueled Vulcain 2 main engine.

Arianespace opens busy year with successful Ariane 5 launch

January 16, 2020

The first of up to 22 launches on Arianespace’s schedule in 2020 successfully delivered a commercial European broadband satellite and an Indian communications payload to orbit Thursday using a heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket.

Photos: Ariane 5 rocket rolled out for first launch of 2020

January 16, 2020

A nearly 180-foot-tall (54.8-meter) Ariane 5 rocket rolled out of its integration hangar to the ELA-3 launch zone Wednesday at the Guiana Space Center in South America, moving into position for liftoff Thursday with two geostationary communications satellites.

Live coverage: Ariane 5 launches telecom satellites for Eutelsat, ISRO

January 16, 2020

Arianespace’s first launch of 2020 lifted off at 4:05 p.m. EST (2105 GMT; 6:05 p.m. French Guiana time) Thursday from the Guiana Space Center on the northeastern shore of South America. An Ariane 5 rocket launched the Eutelsat Konnect and GSAT 30 communications satellite for Eutelsat and the Indian Space Research Organization.

Kuaizhou 1A rocket lofts Chinese broadband test satellite

January 16, 2020

A solid-fueled Kuaizhou 1A launcher carried a commercial broadband communications satellite into orbit Thursday for Galaxy Space, a Chinese company that says it plans to launch up to 144 spacecraft for a space-based 5G network in the next few years.

New European satellite design to debut on Ariane 5 launch Thursday

January 16, 2020

A broadband communications satellite for Paris-based Eutelsat — built on a new Thales Alenia Space all-electric design with xenon plasma thrusters — and an Indian broadcasting spacecraft are fastened to the top of an Ariane 5 launcher for liftoff Thursday from French Guiana.

SpaceX’s brisk Starlink launch cadence to continue next week

January 14, 2020

SpaceX plans to launch its next group of Starlink broadband satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket as soon as Tuesday, Jan. 21, from Cape Canaveral, two days after the company is scheduled to launch a modified Falcon 9 booster from a separate facility at the Florida spaceport to test the Crew Dragon spaceship’s emergency escape system.

AEHF satellite arrives in Florida for first of nearly 20 Space Force launches this year

January 13, 2020

The sixth and final satellite in the U.S. military’s network of ultra-secure, nuclear-hardened AEHF communications relay stations has arrived in Florida for final preparations for liftoff in March on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, the first of nearly 20 U.S. Space Force missions planned for launch in the first year of operations for the new military service.

SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites, tests design change for astronomers

January 7, 2020

Sixty more satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink global Internet network streaked into orbit Monday night from Cape Canaveral, including one spacecraft to test an experimental dark coating to address scientists’ concerns that the thousands of the quarter-ton, flat-panel satellites will impede astronomical observations.

Video: SpaceX launches first mission of 2020 (members only)

January 7, 2020

SpaceX launched its first mission of 2020 on Monday night from Cape Canaveral. A Falcon 9 rocket carried 60 satellites into orbit for SpaceX’s Starlink Internet network.