Offloading Gaia

The Gaia spacecraft left Europe on 22 August 2013 in an Antonov 124-100M aeroplane, and landed in French Guiana on 23 August. On 28 August, a second Antonov aircraft transported Gaia’s sunshield and most of the ground support equipment to Kourou. This image shows the main Gaia container being offloaded in Kourou.