Arianespace completed its third and final orbital launch of 2024 on Thursday, Dec. 5, with the successful return of its Vega-C rocket to flight two years after its previous mission failed to reach orbit. Thursday’s launch deployed Sentinel-1C, a radar-imaging satellite for the Copernicus Earth science program. Liftoff occurred at 21:20 UTC (6:20 p.m. local time) from Kourou, French Guiana, with spacecraft separation taking place 103 minutes later.
