A further step towards the deployment of Europe?s Galileo global navigation satellite system was taken on 27th April with the successful launch of ESA?s second Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element (GIOVE-B) satellite, carrying what has been described as the most accurate atomic clock ever flown into space. The GIOVE-B satellite was lofted into a medium altitude orbit around the earth by a Soyuz/Fregat rocket departing from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by launch operator Starsem. Lift-off occurred at 04:16 local time on 27th April (00:16 Central European Summer Time).