Europe's new heavy-lift rocket Ariane 6 is set to carry out its first commercial mission on Monday as Europe seeks to secure independent access to space amid a shock rapprochement between Moscow and Washington.

SpaceX plans to launch its Starship megarocket on its next test flight on Monday. The vehicle’s upper stage exploded over the Atlantic Ocean during the last such test.

Europe's launch vehicle is set to take its first paid payload into space. A few hours later, the Starship could deliver the next spectacle.

Starship’s seventh flight test exploded over the Caribbean, causing debris to rain down near Turks and Caicos.

The test flight will be a repeat of what SpaceX hoped to achieve on the previous Starship launch in January, when the rocket broke apart and showered debris over the Atlantic Ocean and Turks and Caicos Islands.

SpaceX has announced a brief delay in the much-anticipated Flight 8 of its massive Starship rocket. Originally set for February 28, the launch is now targeting March 3, with liftoff expected from Starbase,