Photos: Ariane 5 Assembly for Second Galileo Mission

An Ariane 5 ES/Galileo launch vehicle is delivered to the Guiana Space Center aboard sea-going vessels operated by Arianespace before beginning assembly for a late 2017 liftoff with a group of four Galileo navigation satellites, joining Europe’s growing navigation satellite constellation. For Galileo, Ariane flies in its ES version with a hypergolic second stage and additional modifications to reduce mass of the upper stage in order to achieve the performance necessary to dispatch four satellites directly into Medium Earth Orbit.

All Photos: Arianespace / ESA / CNES / Optique Video du CSG