A Russian-made Soyuz rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Saturday and placed into orbit an Earth observation satellite for France, space officials said. The rocket lifted off at 11:02 p.m. (0202 GMT on Sunday) from a launch pad at Europe's space base near Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America. A first launch attempt on Friday was scrubbed due to a technical problem, according to a report of Reuters.