A Space In fact, SpaceX did not provide any video of the launch after the first stage separation and ended the web broadcast after confirmation of the payload fairing separation.
Taking off from Launch Complex 39A of the Kennedy Space Center at 8:34 pm eastern time, the Falcon 9 transported the Galileo satellites GM25 and FM27. The European Union Space Program Agency, or EUSPA, the EU agency that manages Galileo operations, confirmed that the satellites were in orbit and operational a few hours later.
Neither the European Commission nor the European Space Agency have, contrary to what is usually the case, publicized the launch in advance.
“
2 new Galileo satellites successfully launched last night
,” Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for the internal market, posted on social media on April 28. “While waiting for Ariane6, the 2024 launches are crucial for the resilience, robustness and continuity of Galileo's civil and military applications.”
This statement seems to reveal part of the secrecy reserved for the operation carried out by the Falcon 9. After the invasion of Ukraine and the consequent lack of access to the Russian Soyuz rocket and the delays in the introduction of Ariane 6, Europe faces 'thrower crisis' as defined by the director general of ESA, Josef Aschbacher, regarding the lack of its own means for launching satellites..
Breton said in November 2023 that the European Commission was finalizing a deal with SpaceX for two Falcon 9 launches, each with two Galileo satellites, scheduled for 2024. That contract was worth 180 million euros ($193 million) , he said.
This is the second European institutional mission to fly on a Falcon 9 due to the ongoing launcher crisis, following the launch of ESA's Euclid space telescope in July 2023.
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