muttbutt
10-21-2011, 08:57 AM
KOUROU, French Guiana — A Soyuz rocket lifted off on Friday on its maiden flight from Europe's space base here, carrying the first two satellites in the Galileo geopositioning system.
The launch marked an unprecedented step in space cooperation, being the first by the veteran rocket beyond Russia's historic bases at Plesetsk and Baikonur.
As mission controllers counted off the final seconds, Soyuz's main engines ignited, a cluster of umbilical masts flipped back and at 1030 GMT the rocket clawed its way skywards through a pounding tropical rain.
After a nine-minute flight through Earth's atmosphere, its final stage, the Fregat, fired up to drive the satellites toward their orbital slots, a last leg that should take more than three hours.
"The first part of this mission has gone well," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive of Arianespace, which markets launches at Kourou.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gPuB4uMOp8RN2hSmQeqNeYhGPA7w?docId=CNG.166c3dd9391601399e970dcf4031df36.601
The launch marked an unprecedented step in space cooperation, being the first by the veteran rocket beyond Russia's historic bases at Plesetsk and Baikonur.
As mission controllers counted off the final seconds, Soyuz's main engines ignited, a cluster of umbilical masts flipped back and at 1030 GMT the rocket clawed its way skywards through a pounding tropical rain.
After a nine-minute flight through Earth's atmosphere, its final stage, the Fregat, fired up to drive the satellites toward their orbital slots, a last leg that should take more than three hours.
"The first part of this mission has gone well," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive of Arianespace, which markets launches at Kourou.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gPuB4uMOp8RN2hSmQeqNeYhGPA7w?docId=CNG.166c3dd9391601399e970dcf4031df36.601