Watch Friday’s Launch of Galileo 7 and 8

The upper composite containing the seventh and eighth Galileo satellites attached to their dispenser atop the Fregat upper stage inside the launcher fairing was hauled up the mobile launch tower then attached to the first three stages of its Soyuz ST-B launcher on March 24. (Photo courtesy of ESA)

The seventh and eighth Galileo satellites are scheduled for launch Friday, March 27, at 21:46:18 GMT (22:46:18 CET) atop a Soyuz ST-B rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Streaming starts at 21:24 GMT (22:24 CET) at the European Space Agency website.

The first three stages of the Soyuz rocket will take the Galileo satellites and their Fregat upper stage into low orbit. Then the reignitable Fregat, as much a spacecraft as a rocket stage, will take over the task of hauling the satellites higher through a pair of burns. The satellites will be released in opposite directions by their dispenser once they reach their set 22,522 kilometer-altitude orbit 3 hours, 47 minutes, 57 seconds after launch.

The webstream will cover the launch and orbital insertion in two parts. The first part begins at 21:24 GMT (22:24 CET) and ends at 22:19 GMT (23:24 CET). The second part begins at 01:22 GMT (02:22 CET) and ends at 02:17 GMT (03:17 CET).