Animated preview of flight VV21 illustrates gantry rollout and liftoff from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, stage and fairing separations, and deployment of the Italian Space Agency’s LARES-2 scientific payload and six research CubeSats. Vega-C represents a dramatic capability boost compared to its predecessor, Vega, which has flown since 2012. With new first and second stages and an uprated fourth stage, Vega-C increases performance from Vega’s 1.5 t to about 2.2 t in a reference 700 km polar orbit and handles larger payloads.

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