Vega

The final two spacecraft in Airbus’s four-satellite, 600 million-euro commercial Pléiades Neo Earth observation fleet crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after launch from French Guiana Tuesday night, falling victim to a failure of a European Vega C rocket.

Europe’s Vega C rocket failed a few minutes after launch from French Guiana at 8:47 p.m. EST Tuesday (0147 GMT Wednesday), falling back into the Atlantic Ocean north of the launch site. Two Pléiades Neo high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellites for Airbus were destroyed in the failure.

Two Pléiades Neo Earth observation satellites are set to join Airbus’s constellation of high-resolution optical imagers with a launch Tuesday night from French Guiana on the first commercial flight of Europe’s Vega C rocket, a mission delayed from November to change out suspect hardware on the launcher’s payload fairing.

The excitement of Europe’s inaugural launch of its Vega-C rocket Wednesday was palpable at the launch site in French Guiana, following two technical holds that preceded the successful delivery of seven small satellites into orbit.

Europe’s first Vega-C rocket launched at 9:13 a.m. EDT (1313 GMT) Wednesday from the Guiana Space Center in South America. The rocket debuted upgraded solid-fueled motors and a larger payload compartment to haul bigger satellites to space. The maiden Vega-C flight carried seven small spacecraft into orbit.

Europe’s new Vega-C launcher, debuting more powerful rocket motors and a larger payload volume, is set to lift off on its first flight Wednesday from Kourou, French Guiana, to cap more than seven years of development.

Europe’s new Vega C launcher is on track for its inaugural flight from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, during the second half of June, according to officials managing final phases of integration.

A European Vega rocket fired into space from French Guiana Tuesday and deployed three French military satellites to locate sources of radio and radar transmissions around the world, clearing the way for final modifications on the Vega launch pad for an uprated version of the booster set to debut next year.