ESA’s new Vega-C rocket lifted off for its inaugural flight VV21 on 13 July 2022 at 15:13 CEST from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

With new first and second stages and an uprated fourth stage, Vega-C increases performance to about 2.3 t in a reference 700 km polar orbit, from the 1.5 t capability of its predecessor, Vega.

For flight VV21, Vega-C’s payload is LARES-2, a scientific mission of the Italian space agency ASI and six research CubeSats from France, Italy and Slovenia.

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