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Ariane 5 launches two satellites on 7-year voyage to Mercury
A powerful European Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana late Friday and boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system, a voyage requiring seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun's gravitational clutches to slip into orbit around hellish Mercury.
Photos: BepiColombo stacked for launch to Mercury
Ground crews at the Guiana Space Center in South America have spent the last few months preparing the BepiColombo spacecraft, a tandem mission with European and Japanese science orbiters bound for Mercury, for launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.
VideoLive coverage: Probe heading to Mercury blasts off from French Guiana
The nearly $1.9 billion BepiColombo mission to Mercury jointly developed by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency lifted off Friday night from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. Launch occurred at 9:45 p.m. EDT Friday (0145 GMT Saturday).
Pioneering European winds observatory launched aboard Vega rocket
A European satellite hosting a spaceborne laser crafted to measure winds in Earth's atmosphere rode a Vega launcher into orbit Wednesday from French Guiana, a thundering sendoff for a three-year mission that could improve global weather forecasts.
Live coverage: Vega rocket lifts off with European winds observatory
Europe's new Aeolus winds observatory blasted off at 2120 GMT (5:20 p.m. EDT) Wednesday aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket from French Guiana, kicking off a three-year mission to chart the motion of Earth's atmosphere.
Vega launch timeline with Aeolus
The European Space Agency's Aeolus winds observatory is set for liftoff aboard a Vega rocket to kick off a three-year mission to measure global wind profiles from an orbit nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) above Earth.
First-of-its-kind satellite to measure global winds finally ready for liftoff
The European Space Agency's $550 million Aeolus science mission, the product of a drawn-out 16-year development effort that required engineers to master new technologies, is in the starting blocks on a launch pad in French Guiana awaiting liftoff Wednesday to monitor wind speeds from space for the first time on a global scale.
Vega launch delayed 24 hours
The liftoff of a European satellite to measure global wind fields has been delayed 24 hours to Wednesday in hopes of a better weather forecast at the Vega rocket's launch base in French Guiana, officials announced Monday.
Arianespace aims for busy second half of 2018
Europe's first mission to Mercury, a quartet of Galileo navigation spacecraft, the world's first global winds observatory, and a new European weather satellite have arrived at an equatorial launch base in French Guiana in preparation for launches in the coming months.
NASA gears up for brisk launch pace, starting with weather satellite
Engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center tasked with overseeing launches of scientific satellites and interplanetary probes will be responsible later this year for ensuring six major missions safely get into space over a span of a little more than six months, beginning with the launch of NOAA's new GOES-S weather observatory on an Atlas 5 rocket March 1.