ArianespaceSoyuz STB Fregat-MTSoyuz Launch Complex, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Soyuz STB/Fregat-MT | Gaia

Name: Soyuz STB/Fregat-MT | Gaia
Start: 2013-12-19T09:12:19.000Z
Location: Soyuz Launch Complex, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Launch window

December 19, 2013Add to calendar

Launch Successful

Arianespace's 217th launch · 7th this year · humanity's 5,345th orbital launch attempt

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

Window: Dec 19, 09:12 – Dec 19, 09:12 UTC

Flight preview

Gaia

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.

Astrophysics · Sun-Earth L2 (L2)

Booster

No booster details available.

Watch

Gaia launch - Full replay — European Space Agency, ESA

News

ESA·Aug 17, 2026

Hubble & Gaia solve our galaxy's merger mystery

Our 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.

Pad — Soyuz Launch Complex

26 launches from this pad · 335 from Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Open in maps