Firing off the launch pad with more than a half-million pounds of thrust, a Vega rocket soared into space Monday night from French Guiana with Europe’s Sentinel 2B environmental satellite.
The 98-foot-tall (30-meter), four-stage rocket, powered by Italian and Ukrainian propulsion, took off at 10:49:24 p.m. local time in French Guiana (0149:24 GMT; 8:49:24 p.m. EST). Less than an hour later, the Vega launcher released Sentinel 2B into its planned orbit nearly 500 miles (800 kilometers) above Earth.
Read our full story for details on the Vega rocket’s ninth mission.
The images of posted below show the Vega rocket on the launch pad during retraction of the mobile gantry a few hours before flight, followed by the booster’s late-night blastoff.
Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. PironCredit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. PironCredit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. PironCredit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. PironCredit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – OVCredit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – OVCredit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. MartinCredit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. MartinCredit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017
A European re-entry demonstrator launched aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket at 1340 GMT (8:40 a.m. EST) from French Guiana, kicking off a whirlwind 102-minute around-the-world test flight to validate technologies that could be used on future reusable launchers and spaceships.
A new Chinese launch vehicle, the Long March 8, has successfully placed five payloads into orbit on its first mission, debuting an expendable booster intended to eventually be outfitted for recovery and reuse.
United Launch Alliance called off the launch of a Delta 2 rocket from California’s Central Coast early Tuesday after boats ventured into a restricted safety exclusion zone and engineers ran out of time to resolve a technical problem on the launcher.
