Tag: Arianespace

  • Live coverage: European mini-shuttle back on Earth

    Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket with the European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

  • Galileo satellite deployment campaign to resume

    One of two Galileo satellites is unloaded from an Air France Boeing 747 cargo plane on Thursday after arrival in Cayenne, French Guiana. Credit: ESA/Paul Muller Two Galileo navigation satellites arrived at the Guiana Space Center in South America on Thursday after a trans-Atlantic flight from Paris, as European officials plan the resumption of Galileo…

  • Photos: ESA re-entry testbed prepared for liftoff

    Engineers have put the finishing touches on a prototype spaceship representing a leap in European space technology, aiming for liftoff Feb. 11 for a flight 260 miles into space and back to Earth for a pinpoint splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The Intermediate Experimental Vehicle will blast off aboard a lightweight European Vega launcher from…

  • Europe’s re-entry demonstrator mated to Vega rocket

    .@esa #ixv and #vega finally together for the last preparation phase! #VV04 #100minutemission pic.twitter.com/QMHTViKThh — ESA IXV (@esa_ixv) January 31, 2015 Launch crews in French Guiana have mounted an innovative European space plane on top of a solid-fueled Vega launcher for a Feb. 11 suborbital test flight. The European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle was…

  • Launch campaign resumes for ESA space plane

    The European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle inside a clean room at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Baudon Engineers are resuming preparations to launch an experimental European re-entry test vehicle on a Vega rocket Feb. 11 after a two-month delay ordered by safety authorities to analyze…

  • 2014’s launch tally highest in two decades

    The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flew nine times in 2014, more than any other U.S. launcher. Six of the missions flew from Cape Canaveral, which was the starting point for 16 space launches in 2014, tied for the highest number of launches there since 2003. Credit: ULA There were more successful space launches…

  • Photos: Soyuz soars skyward from French Guiana

    Flying for the 10th time from a tropical launch facility along the South American coastline, a Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off Dec. 18 and streaked through partly sunny skies with four satellites to extend the reach of the O3b Networks,  a company founded to bring broadband to the world’s most remote and impoverished countries. The…

  • Third quartet of satellites launched for O3b Networks

    The Soyuz rocket lifted off at 1837 GMT (1:37 p.m. EST; 3:37 p.m. local time) from the Guiana Space Center on the northern coast of South America. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – JM Guillon A Soyuz rocket lifted off from French Guiana on Thursday, launching four satellites owned by O3b Networks…

  • Live coverage: Soyuz blasts off on third mission for O3b

    Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket from French Guiana with four broadband communications satellites for O3b Networks. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

  • Photos: O3b satellites prepared for Soyuz launch

    Four satellites designed to broadcast high-speed Internet signals to the developing world are mounted on top of a Russian-made Soyuz rocket for liftoff Thursday from the Guiana Space Center in South America. Launch of the Soyuz ST-B booster — under the joint management of Arianespace and Russian rocket engineers — is set for 1837 GMT…