This is the moment that Galileo satellites 27–28 – enclosed along with their Fregat upper stage within their protective fairing – were placed on top of the other three stages of their Soyuz launcher, ahead of the liftoff set to take place on the night of 1-2 December.

Galileo satellites 27 – 28 are scheduled to be launched by a Soyuz launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 2 December at 01:31 CET (1 December at 21:31 local Kourou time). Follow the launch live on ESA Web TV Two from 0104 CET.

For more details of the launch campaign so far, click here.