An Ariane rocket lifted off today from a pad in South America to place France’s third military spy satellite into orbit, Arianespace said.

The launch of an Ariane rocket that was to lob a Canadian telecommunications satellite into orbit was postponed hours before blast off because of a problem with the European launcher.

The European Space Agency’s ambitious mission to chase down a comet and land a probe on its surface was due to blast off today.

The break-up of the space shuttle Columbia on Saturday was the latest in a series of accidents since space exploration began in 1957 with the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite.

The European Space Agency tonight pulled the plug on the historic Rosetta mission to land a spacecraft on a comet.