Gaia

Gaia launched on an Arianespace Soyuz STB Fregat-MT from Soyuz Launch Complex, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana on December 19, 2013. It was Arianespace's 217th launch, 7th this year and humanity's 5,345th orbital launch attempt. It was the 3rd Soyuz STB Fregat-MT flight and the 2nd this year. The payload was bound for Sun-Earth L2 (L2). 2 objects from this launch are catalogued, one of them a payload.

2 catalogued: 1 payload, 1 rocket stage

• Gaia · NORAD 39479 · left Earth orbit December 19, 2013

Fregat-MT No. 1040 · left Earth orbit December 19, 2013

Data from J. McDowell, planet4589.org

• ESA · Aug 17Hubble & Gaia solve our galaxy's merger mysteryOur home galaxy, the Milky Way, grew to its current size in part by consuming smaller galaxies. Now, new data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show definitive evidence of a dwarf galaxy merging with the young Milky Way galaxy in the earliest phases of its evolution. This finding extends our knowledge of our galaxy’s history 1.8 billion years farther back in time than before.

• Previous Soyuz STB Fregat-MT flightO3b FM1, FM2, FM4, FM5Jun 25, 2013
• Next Soyuz STB Fregat-MT flightHispasat 36W-1 (Hispasat AG1)Jan 28, 2017
• All 2013 launches2013
• ProviderAll Arianespace launches
• RocketAll Soyuz launches
• Launch siteAll launches from Kourou