Europe's Ariane 6 rocket launches its 1st pair of Galileo navigation satellites

Europe's towering Ariane 6 rocket is gaining momentum in the heavy-lift launch market. The first pair of Galileo navigation satellites to launch on an Ariane 6 lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on Wednesday (Dec. 17) at 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT; 2:01 a.m. local time in Kourou). Galileo Launch 14 (L14) is sending the spacecraft pair to join 26 other active satellites in the constellation, which is Europe's equivalent to the Global Positioning System (GPS) used by the United States More

(Source: Space.com - Dec 18)