Liftoff of Vega VV02

The second flight of ESA’s newest launch vehicle was performed from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Two Earth observation satellites, ESA’s Proba-V and Vietnam’s VNREDSat‑1A, were released into different orbits, demonstrating the rocket’s versatility. Estonia’s first satellite, the ESTCube‑1 technology demonstrator, was also released.

Vega lifted off at 02:06 GMT on 7 May 2013 (23:06 local time 6 May; 04:06 CEST 7 May) on a complex mission requiring five upper-stage boosts.