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
The planned launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday from Cape Canaveral of a South Korean military communications satellite has been delayed in order to address an issue on the launcher’s second stage, and potentially replace the hardware if necessary, officials said Monday.
After a brief delay to chase away a boat from offshore waters, Japan’s H-2A rocket launched at 0650 GMT (1:50 a.m. EST) with the Telstar 12 Vantage telecom satellite. The launch from marks the first flight of an H-2A rocket with an upgraded upper stage, and the launcher’s first dedicated commercial mission.
The Italian government has decided to launch two next-generation radar reconnaissance satellites on Soyuz and Vega rockets from French Guiana, and a European Space Agency telescope to study the structures of planets around other stars will likely ride to orbit as a co-passenger on one of the missions.
