Two more European Galileo navigation satellites have launched from French Guiana aboard a Russian-made Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage. Arianespace called off a launch attempt Friday night due to the risk of lightning at the spaceport. Liftoff occurred for 7:19 p.m. EST Saturday (0019 GMT Sunday).
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday night carrying 48 Starlink internet satellites and two BlackSky Earth-imaging payloads into orbit. The mission took off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral at 6:12 p.m. EST (2312 GMT), and the first stage landed on SpaceX’s offshore drone ship, completing its ninth trip to space and back.
Two more Galileo navigation satellites are set for liftoff Friday night from French Guiana on a Soyuz rocket, the first mission in more than three years to add to Europe’s space-based positioning and timing network. The mission was delayed from Wednesday by bad weather, then from Thursday due to the unavailability of a downrange tracking station.
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