Liftoff of flight VV02 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana occurred at 04:06 CEST (02:06 GMT) on 7 May (23:06 local time on 6 May) at the opening of the launch window.
After the separation of Proba-V, through a series of five burns and coasts, Vega moved into a second orbit at 668 km and an inclination of 98.13º for the two remaining satellites, VNRedsat and ESTCube-1.
The Vietnam Natural Resources, Environment and Disaster Monitoring Satellite – VNRedsat – was built by Astrium for the Vietnamese government.
ESTCube-1 will test solar sail technologies and help to establish an Estonian infrastructure for future space projects.
A final burn will deorbit the upper stage to ensure that it does not remain as a debris threat.