On 21st October the first pair of satellites for Europe’s Galileo global navigation satellite system was launched into orbit by a Russian Soyuz vehicle from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, creating a milestone mission, reported ESA.

The Soyuz VS01 flight, operated by Arianespace, started with liftoff from the new launch complex in French Guiana at 1030 GMT (1230 CEST) on 21st October. All of the Soyuz stages performed perfectly and the Fregat-MT upper stage released the Galileo satellites into their target orbit at 23 222 km altitude, 3 hours
49 minutes after liftoff.