December 6, 2025
Spaceflight Now
  • Home
  • News Archive
  • Launch Schedule
  • Mission Reports
    • Antares Launcher
    • Ariane 5
    • Atlas 5
    • Delta 4
    • Falcon 9
    • Falcon Heavy
    • H-2A
    • Soyuz
    • Space Station
  • Members
    • Sign in
    • Become a member
    • Members Content
  • Live
  • Shop
Breaking News
  • [ December 5, 2025 ] International Space Station prepares for new commander, heads into final five years of planned operations Mission Reports
  • [ December 4, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandengerg SFB Falcon 9
  • [ December 4, 2025 ] Orion hatch ‘blemish’ delays launch day rehearsal for Artemis 2 astronauts Mission Reports
  • [ December 3, 2025 ] Jared Isaacman makes second appeal for NASA administrator position News
  • [ December 2, 2025 ] Sunset SpaceX launch adds 29 more Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit Falcon 9

Sentinel 5p

Mission Reports

Photos: Converted Russian ballistic missile fires into space with satellite

October 16, 2017 Stephen Clark

A decommissioned missile originally built in Russia to deliver nuclear weapons to intercontinental targets in the United States vaulted out of a vertical canister Friday and fired into space with a European satellite to monitor global air pollution.

Mission Reports

Modified Russian missile boosts Europe’s newest environmental sentinel to space

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

A European satellite that will collect daily air quality measurements over every major city on Earth rode an uprated Russian ballistic missile into orbit Friday.

Members

Q&A with Josef Aschbacher, director of ESA’s Earth observation programs (members only)

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

Josef Aschbacher, head of ESA’s Earth observation programs, recently spoke with Spaceflight Now about the importance of the Sentinel 5P satellite mission designed for air quality measurements from space, and discussed increasing data usage from Europe’s Copernicus environmental network, and plans to expand the flagship Earth observation fleet.

Mission Reports

Photos: Sentinel 5P environmental satellite prepared for liftoff

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

Europe’s Sentinel 5P satellite, fitted with a Dutch-developed spectrometer to measure gases in Earth’s atmosphere, was fueled and mated to its Russian Rockot booster over the last month at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military complex around 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow.

Mission Reports

Live coverage: European environmental satellite launches from Russia

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

A modified Russian missile built for nuclear war blasted off on a peaceful mission Friday, targeting placement of a European Earth observation satellite in orbit to measure atmospheric chemistry and global air quality. Liftoff from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia occurred at 0927 GMT (5:27 a.m. EDT).

Members

Q&A with Guido Levrini, ESA’s manager of the Copernicus space segment

April 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

Europe is in the midst of launching the most thorough space-based environmental network ever deployed, with satellites to help officials respond to natural disasters, measure crop yield, monitor the health of oceans and ice caps, and track ozone in the atmosphere. Guido Levrini from ESA spoke to Spaceflight Now about the program on the eve of Sentinel 1B’s launch.

News Headlines

  • International Space Station prepares for new commander, heads into final five years of planned operations
    December 5, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandengerg SFB
    December 4, 2025
  • Orion hatch ‘blemish’ delays launch day rehearsal for Artemis 2 astronauts
    December 4, 2025
  • Jared Isaacman makes second appeal for NASA administrator position
    December 3, 2025
  • Sunset SpaceX launch adds 29 more Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit
    December 2, 2025
  • Arianespace launches South Korean Earth observation satellite on Vega-C flight
    December 2, 2025
  • SpaceX launches evening Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB
    December 1, 2025
  • SpaceX kicks off December with predawn Falcon 9 rocket launch
    November 30, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 140 spacecraft on Transporter-15 rideshare mission
    November 28, 2025
  • NASA astronaut, two cosmonauts take Thanksgiving Day ride to space station
    November 27, 2025
  • Home
  • News Archive
  • Launch Schedule
  • Mission Reports
    • Antares Launcher
    • Ariane 5
    • Atlas 5
    • Delta 4
    • Falcon 9
    • Falcon Heavy
    • H-2A
    • Soyuz
    • Space Station
  • Members
    • Sign in
    • Become a member
    • Members Content
  • Live
  • Shop

© 1999-2025 Spaceflight Now Inc