Watch the Launch

Gaia

Overview

Destination: Sun-Earth L2
Mission: Astrophysics

Sun-Earth L2 Soyuz Launch Complex Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Gaia's ambitious mission is to chart a three-dimensional map of the Milky Way, in process revealing the composition, formation and evolution of our galaxy.

Soyuz STB

Family:
Configuration: Fregat-MT

The 2.1b version adds an upgraded engine (RD-0124) with improved performance to the second stage. First launch took place from Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 on 26 July 2008 with a classified military payload. The 2.1b/ST version is sometimes called Soyuz ST-B.

Specifications
  • Stages
    3
  • Length
    46.3 m
  • Diameter
    2.95 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    310.0 T
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Soyuz STB
  • Family
  • Variant
    Fregat-MT
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Soyuz STB Fregat-MT
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $80000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    8200.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    3250.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    4900.0 kg

Progress Rocket Space Center

Progress Rocket Space Center

(PRSC)

CEO: Dmitry Baranov Founded: 1996 Successes: 44 Failures: 1 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

Progress Rocket Space Centre, formerly known as TsSKB-Progress, is a space science and aerospace research company which is known for manufacturing launch vehicles and satellites. Most notably, Progress Rocket Space Centre is the manufacturer of Soyuz launch vehicles.

INFO WIKI

Related News

ESA

Gaia discovers our galaxy’s great wave

Our Milky Way galaxy never sits still: it rotates and wobbles. And now, data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope reveal that our galaxy also has a giant wave rippling outwards from its centre.

ESA

The most accurate 3D map of stellar nurseries in the Milky Way

Scientists created the most accurate three-dimensional map of star-formation regions in our Milky Way galaxy, based on data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope. This map will teach us more about these obscure cloudy areas…

ESA

Fly through Gaia’s 3D map of stellar nurseries

Scientists created the most accurate three-dimensional map of star-formation regions in our Milky Way galaxy, based on data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope. This map will teach us more about these obscure cloudy areas…

ESA

Gaia proves our skies are filled with chains of starry gatherings

In the past decade, the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission has revealed the nature, history, and behaviour of billions of stars. Our pioneering stargazer has reshaped our view of the skies around us like no other, revealing that star clu…

ESA

Hubble and Gaia revisit fate of our galaxy

Over a decade’s worth of NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope data was used to re-examine the long-held prediction that the Milky Way galaxy will collide with the Andromeda galaxy in about 4.5 billion years. The astronomers found that, based on…

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Soyuz Launch Complex


Ariane 64
Success
1 day, 18 hours ago
Amazon Leo (LE-01)
Ariane Launch Area 4 - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…


Vulcan VC4S
Success
2 days, 1 hour ago
USSF-87
Space Launch Complex 41 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

USSF-87 will launch two identical Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites GSSAP-7 and GSSAP-8 directly to a near-geosyn…


Proton-M
Success
2 days, 2 hours ago
Elektro-L No.5
81/24 (81P) - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Elektro-L is a series of meteorological satellites developed for the Russian Federal Space Agency by NPO Lavochkin. They are designed to capture real…


Smart Dragon 3
Success
2 days, 4 hours ago
PRSC-EO2 & 6 satellites
South China Sea (launch location 3) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

Carried 7 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit, including PRSC-EO2 (Earth observation satellite for the Pakistan government's SUPARCO) & CUHK-1. Detai…


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 17 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-34
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-33
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2F/G
Success
1 week ago
Chinese Reusable Space Vehicle
Launch Area 91 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

4th flight of the Chinese spaceplane capable of returning to Earth.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Kosmos (Unknown Payload)
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Unknown classified payload(s) for the Russian military.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Starlink Group 17-32
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2C
Success
2 weeks ago
AlSat 3B
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Earth observation satellite built by China's CAST for the Algerian Space Agency.