14 DAY TRIAL // The next two spacecraft in the European Space Agency's (ESA) Galileo satellite navigation system are currently being prepared for takeoff, ahead of a planned launch date next month. The vehicles will be the third and fourth in the series, with the first two having already been launched in October 2011.
The new launch will take place on October 10, and will see the two Galileo satellites being sent to orbit aboard a Russian-built Soyuz ST-B delivery system. The rocket will launch from the Kourou Spaceport, in French Guiana, South America.
Rather than launching its spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, ESA signed an agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos), which saw an entire Soyuz launch pad being built at Kourou. All Galileo satellites will be launched from this location.