NewsAlert Sign up for our NewsAlert service and have the latest news in astronomy and space e-mailed direct to your desktop. Enter your e-mail address: Privacy note: your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose.		VS08: Soyuz ST-B launches O3b F2 Satellites launched to beam Internet down to Earth Four broadband communications satellites for O3b Networks, a company based in Britain's Channel Islands with a mission to link developing countries via high-speed Internet, blasted off from French Guiana on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket Thursday.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    IMAGES: HARDWARE READIED FOR LAUNCH    COUNTDOWN TIMELINE    LAUNCH TIMELINE    ARIANESPACE LAUNCH KIT - (.pdf download)    OUR ARCHIVE OF SOYUZ IN FRENCH GUIANA VS07: Soyuz ST-A launches Sentinel 1A First Sentinel in orbit after successful Soyuz launch Europe's first Sentinel satellite blasted off Thursday and deployed its radar antenna and solar panels overnight, inaugurating a multi-billion dollar series of satellites to take the pulse of Earth's land surfaces, oceans and atmosphere with unmatched regularity.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    PREVIEW STORY    IMAGES: SOYUZ ARRIVES AT LAUNCH PAD    IMAGES: SPACECRAFT PREPARED FOR LAUNCH    IMAGE: SENTINEL INFOGRAPHIC FROM AIRBUS    COUNTDOWN TIMELINE    LAUNCH TIMELINE    OUR ARCHIVE OF SOYUZ IN FRENCH GUIANA VS06: Soyuz ST-B launches Gaia 'Discovery machine' soars to map the Milky Way The sharp-sighted Gaia observatory, carrying the largest camera ever flown in space, rocketed into a predawn sky from French Guiana on Thursday to survey a billion stars and reveal the structure of the Milky Way in finer detail than any mission before.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    PREVIEW STORY    IMAGE: GAIA INFOGRAPHIC FROM ASTRIUM    IMAGES: GAIA BLASTS OFF FROM FRENCH GUIANA    IMAGES: SOYUZ ARRIVES AT LAUNCH PAD    IMAGES: GAIA JOINS LAUNCHER    COUNTDOWN TIMELINE    LAUNCH TIMELINE VS05: Soyuz ST-B launches O3b F1 Soyuz launches broadband beacon for developing world Four satellites soared into space Tuesday on top of a Soyuz rocket launched from the jungle of South America, beginning the assembly of a fleet of spacecraft equipped to beam broadband connectivity to billions of people beyond the reach of affordable high-speed Internet services.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    PREVIEW STORY    COUNTDOWN TIMELINE    LAUNCH TIMELINE VS04: Soyuz ST-A launches Pleiades 1B Soyuz lifts off with French reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite successfully launched Saturday on a Soyuz rocket, joining a twin Earth observation craft already in orbit to collect nearly 1,000 high-resolution images a day for the French armed forces and commercial customers around the world.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    PREVIEW STORY    COUNTDOWN TIMELINE    LAUNCH TIMELINE    IMAGES: SOYUZ MOVED TO LAUNCH PAD    IMAGES: PLEIADES 1B INTEGRATED WITH ROCKET    PDF DOWNLOAD: MISSION PRESS KIT VS03: Soyuz ST-B launches Galileo IOV-2 Galileo gets big boost from successful Soyuz launch A Soyuz rocket boosted two validation platforms from French Guiana into orbit Friday for Europe's Galileo navigation network, setting the stage for further launches every six months over the next few years to build a constellation of satellites beaming global positioning services to airplanes, automobiles and millions of users.    FULL STORY    PHOTOS: VIEWS OF LIFTOFF    PHOTOS: SOYUZ ROLLOUT    MISSION STATUS CENTER    PREVIEW STORY    COUNTDOWN TIMELINE    LAUNCH TIMELINE VS02: Soyuz ST-A launches Pleiades 1A, ELISA & SSOT Six defense satellites launched by Soyuz rocket A Russian Soyuz rocket fired six satellites into space Friday, launching missions to serve defense agencies in Europe and Chile with high-resolution imagery and electronic intelligence.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    PREVIEW STORY    LAUNCH TIMELINE    IMAGES: ROCKET LIGHTS UP THE SKY    IMAGES: SOYUZ ROLLED TO LAUNCH PAD VS01: Soyuz ST-B launches Galileo IOV-1 Successful debut for Soyuz rocket in French Guiana Launching from the Amazon jungle into the void of space Friday, a Russian Soyuz rocket inaugurated a new launch base and kicked off assembly of a $7.3 billion fleet of navigation satellites, fulfilling a decade of tough diplomatic negotiations and back-breaking construction in the granite bedrock of French Guiana.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!    COUNTDOWN TIMELINE    FLIGHT TIMELINE    VIDEO: ROLLOUT MUSIC VIDEO    IMAGES: SOYUZ TRANSFERRED TO PAD    IMAGES: PAYLOAD FAIRING LIFTED TO ROCKET    IMAGES: SOYUZ IN LAUNCH CONFIGURATION