GAIA Launch

[Spooks]

for the ones how want to see the Launche of the ESA GAIA Sat

http://spaceinvideos.esa.int/esalive

[Nibb31]

GAIA was built in Toulouse, a few miles from my house, and I have friends who have worked on her. GAIA is going to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point at 1.5 million km beyond the Earth's orbit, where her mission is to create an extremely precise 3D map of the universe, including stars that are 400000 times smaller than the naked eye can see.

This is going to be a beautiful launch. It's also the 6th Soyuz to be launched from the Kourou Space Center in French Guyana.

Here is the timeline: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Gaia_liftoff_timeline

Edited December 19, 2013 by Nibb31

[Camacha]

I bet that guy in the interview is Dutch.

[Magion]

And GAIA is on the way to L2

[Tiberion]

That was a pretty impressive Soyuz launch, nice video. Even saw a nice Korolev cross when they dropped the boosters.

[Camacha]

Almost a bit underwhelming after all the SpaceX delays Even the trail of exhaust gasses seems very civil and modest, as if the lady has learnt to behave after all those years.

[Ravenchant]

Very nice! I literally saw this thread two minutes before launch, barely caught it. Still, the MAVEN launch was more exciting to watch

[rpayne88]

Damn, I'm just finding out about this now.