Galileos 27 -28 have been secured to the dispenser that holds them in place during their launch to space then deploys the pair into their target orbit. Now the pair have been attached to their Fregat upper stage.

This is the gold-insulation-shrouded top stage of the Soyuz launcher that will haul them most of the way to their 23 525 km altitude medium Earth orbit.

Next the combined satellites plus Fregat upper stage will be encapsulated inside their launcher fairing to form the overall ‘upper composite’ to be added to the waiting other three stages of their Soyuz launcher.

The Galileo satellites are due to be launched on 2 December at 01:31:27 CET (1 December at 21:31:27 local Kourou time).

For more details of the launch campaign click here.