Galileos 11 and 12

Galileos 11 and 12, mated with their dispenser on top of their Fregat upper stage being encapsulated within their Soyuz fairing.

The latest Galileo satellites lifted off at 11:51 GMT on 17 December (12:51 CET; 08:51 Kourou time) from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on a Soyuz rocket. They are expected to become operational, after initial in-orbit testing, next spring.

This is the sixth Galileo launch overall and the third this year, set to bring the number of satellites in space up to 12.